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Trauma Insurance – is there a point?
Trauma insurance, also known as Critical Illness Insurance, pays a benefit if you
experience a sickness or injury as defined in the
policy. Unlike income protection insurance, where
you have to be unable to work for a certain period
of time, trauma insurance benefits are not linked to
your capacity to work.
Recent figures released by
Aviva for 2006
reveal
that 60% of the critical illness benefit payments
made to their policy holders were to sufferers of
malignant cancer. These people would not necessarily
have been terminally ill, but they would most
probably have been required to undergo surgery and
other traumatic and stressful interventionist
therapies such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The
next major critical illness claims categories were
stroke at 9% of claimants, and Coronary By-Pass and
Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack), each
representing 6% of trauma insurance claimants.
From a gender perspective, 70% of critical illness
claimants were male. This raises an interesting
question – is it because the males of the population
suffer more serious illnesses than the females? Or
is it because men are more likely than women to have
trauma insurance cover?
Aviva’s figures also reveal that most of their
critical illness claimants (42%) were in the 50-59
age group – that time when much of the population is
starting to gear down and begin planning for
retirement. More frightening, though, is that a
surprising 14% of the claims were from trauma
insurance policyholders in the 30-39 age group, and
their youngest single claimant was a mere 30 years
of age.
All up, Aviva paid out over $16 million in critical
illness claims during 2006, with their biggest
payout exceeding $675,000.
Some of these critical illness payments would have
been made on top of any eligible income protection
and total and permanent disability claim payments.
While trauma insurance is a relatively new type of
cover it is becoming more and more popular in
today’s society where the chance’s of you recovering
from a traumatic event is increasing while the
financial burden of the medical costs and financial
obligations your family need to cover while you
recover from your condition are increasing.
Therefore the need to have the adequate trauma
insurance to alleviate the financial stress of a
traumatic / critical illness.
Disclaimer
The
information provided is general in nature and does not take into account your
particular insurance objectives, financial situation or
investment needs. We recommend that you speak to an
xLife insurance advisor
or life insurance broker before you make any decision
regarding risk insurance.
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