How did 63% of these people nearly cost themselves $Millions?
I was talking to a friend this week and he told me how seriously ill he is. I’d known that he had an illness, but was not aware of the impact it had on his day to day life. In order to continue living, he requires treatment 3 days per week for a total of 15 hours of treatment. Add commuting time into the equation, and half of his ‘normal’ working week is gone because of his illness. This is a chronic illness too, meaning it will not get better. The only hope for a normal life is a successful organ transplant – assuming a suitable donor can be found.
His background is as a high performing executive, but his illness means it is no longer possible to continue in such a role. Being a highly motivated individual he established a consulting business to provide a greater degree of flexibility around when he works, and also to ensure he is able to continue earning an income to help support his family.
When I realised the extent of his health issues, I asked him about his insurance coverage (note, he is a friend and I am not his adviser). He told me that he thinks he has income protection insurance, life and TPD cover, but he’s not really sure of the details.
He and his partner are concerned about their financial position, yet despite the extent of his illness, it hasn’t even occurred to them that he might be eligible to claim on his insurance policies.
As a rough guess I’d say he should be eligible to claim on his income protection policy, and potentially too his Total and Permanent Disability cover.
If this is the case (and he’s adequately covered), it should put paid to their financial concerns.
Yet it was not even on their radar.
If I look at the clients I’ve assisted with claims over the past 5 years, 63% of them weren’t aware that they had insurance that covered their condition and they were eligible to claim.
The value of benefits paid as a result of these claims total in the millions of dollars, and have made a significant impact on their lives, and the lives of their family.
So why is this being overlooked?
I think the reason is two fold:
- Life insurance can be complicated. While term life is generally pretty straightforward (if you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, you or your estate gets paid your insurance), income protection, trauma and total and permanent disability cover (TPD) have lots of definitions and it can be daunting to wade through it.
- When you have a serious health issue, your main focus is often on your treatment and trying to get better which doesn’t leave you with the time and perspective to consider the broader issues and opportunities available to you.
This is where it can be important to have someone in your corner who knows the details of your affairs. They can make that connection between your condition and your entitlements and manage the claims process for you.
Our commitment to our clients is that we will be there to support them through these times, and help identify opportunities such as these to assist them.
We also manage the claims process for them, which simplifies this and takes away any concerns they may have about dealing with the insurance company.
Hopefully you’ll never need to use this.
But if you’ve got a health issue, how much easier would it be to manage without financial worries?
If you’ve got any questions about these issues, send me a direct message.
