• Trauma cover pays a lump sum of money if the insured person is diagnosed with a serious medical condition or undergoes a certain medical procedure. Most insurers cover at least 45 medical conditions, with the most common being heart attack, cancer and strokes. Your advisor will show you all the conditions covered. Trauma cover is designed to help you and your family during the time you are unable to work, such as:

• Taking time off work to rest and recover

• To pay for your spouse or another caregiver to provide that extra help and support you may need

• If you would like to use alternative treatments that aren’t covered or only partially covered by health insurance, a trauma claim can help with that.

• Reducing debt. Bills such as medical expenses , utilities and even the mortgage or rent still keep coming in. A trauma payout allows you to not worry about financial issues to concentrate on your recovery.

• Taking care of those additional costs such as child care, wheelchair ramps or travel to medical appointments.

• You could even take the family away on holiday if you’re well enough. The key thing with a trauma payout is that it is not ‘tagged’. You can do what you like with the money.

Typically, Trauma Cover comes in two versions;

• ‘Accelerated Cover’, meaning that at time of claim, your payment is made out of your life cover, but you can always add a benefit to reinstate your original life cover after 12 months. ‘Accelerated Cover’ for these reasons is cheaper than ‘Stand Alone’

• ‘Stand Alone’ cover means just that. It has no impact on your Life Cover

• Trauma Cover can be either ‘stepped’, meaning that whilst monthly premiums start off cheap, which is great to cover short and medium term risk; as you age, the premiums will increase significantly, year on year.

  OR

• Trauma cover can be ‘Levelled’; meaning that the premium you pay on application will stay the same for the duration of the cover, which may be to age 65 or up to age 80. This premium is more expensive at commencement, but over the years, the savings can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

• Pays a regular monthly benefit if the insured person is unable to work and earn an income because of sickness or injury after the agreed waiting period. It is designed to meet essential living costs and financial commitments. Waiting periods may range from 30 days to 120 days.

Most insurers have at least two types of IP cover

• Loss of earnings. Will pay your benefit based on @75% of your actual loss of income. This is a popular option for salaried workers or those on a stable income.

• Loss of earnings Plus. At claim time will pay the 100% of agreed value minus any income received from ACC, or 75% of your actual loss of income. This is a good option for people with fluctuating income or small business owner

• Pays a regular monthly benefit if the insured person is unable to work and earn an income because of sickness or injury after the agreed waiting period. It is designed to pay the mortgage and essential living costs. Waiting periods may range from 30 days to 120 days.

• Mortgage protection offers you an agreed monthly cover, which will stay the same even if you reduce your mortgage over time

Most insurers have at least two types of IP cover

• Agreed Value. A cost effective option. It takes into consideration any income you receive from your illness or injury such as ACC, which is off-set

• Agreed Value Plus. Cover level locked in giving surety of how much you’d receive, regardless of other sources of income.

This pays out a lump sum of money if a person becomes totally or permanently disabled due to sickness or injury.

Usually two types of TPD on offer

• Own occupation. Means unlikely to be able to work again in usual occupation

• Any occupation (the cheaper option). This is when you are unlikely to be able to work in any occupation for which you are reasonably suited by education, training or experience

Pays a regular monthly benefit to help a business replace lost revenue or hire replacement staff if the insured “key” person is unable to work due to sickness or injury. It is designed to help restore the insured person’s ability to work and can help with rehabilitation and training.

Two options on offer (can vary from insurer to insurer)

New to business

• New to business with no financial available

• Benefit periods up to one year for qualifying cover

• Monthly benefits restricted

  Existing Business

Financial evidence required

• Larger monthly benefits available

• Benefit periods up to and beyond 1 year typically

• Due to the complexities involved in Business cover options, your Adviser is there to guide you through the options and explain the various benefit options and eligibility criteria.

ACC covers:

• Personal injury caused by accident

• Work related gradual process disease or infection

• Treatment injury

• Mental injury caused by:

  • Sexual abuse or sexual assault

  • Sudden traumatic event in the workplace

  • Physical injury

If you are self-employed and/or employ people, your Advisor can help to ensure that you have the correct ACC business industry and levy classification codes.

Standard ACC cover

Cover for injury

• Access to full range of medical and rehabilitation benefits

• Weekly compensation based on 80% earnings

• Maximum compensation is $99,242 (adjusted annually)

• Proof of earnings may be required at time of claim

  ACC CPX (CoverPlus extra):

Available for self-employed and non-PAYE shareholder employees

• Must earn above $25,376(Adjusted annually)

• Level of cover cannot be less than $25,376 or greater than $99,242

• ACC financial underwriting may apply to agreed level of cover

• Weekly compensation is 100% of agreed cover

• Proof of earnings not required at claim time

• CPX does not apply to pre-existing conditions or injuries

Your Adviser can assist you with your ACC cover and discuss with you the options around supplementing it with some type of Income protection cover, as ACC will only cover you for injury, but Income protection will additionally cover sickness.