Are You Eligible for a Claim on Your Insurances, But Not Realised It?

You may realise you are eligible for a claim if you or your family suffer a major illness or disability, or there is a death in the family.

However, often less significant health events are overlooked regarding your eligibility to claim on your Income Protection or Critical Illness/Trauma insurance.

For example, since your policies were set up:

• Have you broken any major bones?

• Have you been unable to work for greater than 30 days due to illness or injury?

• Have you been diagnosed with any of the following:

• Early stage melanoma

• Minor heart surgery e.g. angioplasty

• Carcinoma in situ of the breast

• Early stage prostatic cancer

Income Protection cover will pay you a monthly benefit if you are unable to work due to illness or injury for a prolonged period, or ever again. Some Income Protection policies also include a Specific Injury Benefit that will pay you an automatic multiple of your insured amount if you break any major bones.

Critical Illness/Trauma insurance will pay you a tax-free lump sum if you suffer a specifically-defined critical illness condition. This may be a full payment of your insured amount, or a partial payment if you suffer a ‘less severe’ critical illness condition, such as the examples above.

Unless you realise you are eligible, it is often only when we are reviewing your insurance cover that such claims are discovered.

Two recent examples of this were:

• A Radiologist fell of their bicycle and broke their humerus and radial bones which entitled them to an automatic $60,000 payment from the Specific Injury Benefit on their Income Protection policy.

• An early stage melanoma diagnosis for a Gastroenterologist who didn’t realise they were eligible for a $100,000 partial Critical Illness/Trauma benefit payment. We also discussed that they would be eligible for a further $900,000 Critical Illness/Trauma benefit payment if their melanoma progressed to a further defined stage.

Please contact us if you think you may be eligible for a claim. As the responsible adviser for your insurances, we are here to assist you with claims, reviews or administration for your policies.