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What Does Trauma Insurance Cover?
Many people think that health insurance is all they need to protect themselves from the hardships incurred when they contract a major illness or are diagnosed with a serious disease. This is not so.
While health insurance covers a majority of the direct medical costs, it fails to factor in loss of income as well as additional indirect medical expenses such as rehabilitation, equipment, necessary vehicle or home modifications, or nursing care costs. This is where Trauma Insurance steps in to help.
Trauma Insurance, also known as Critical Illness Insurance, provides a tax-free lump sum payment on diagnosis of a serious medical condition. It provides another protective layer over your finances so that you can rest assured that you and your family will be taken care of during this difficult time following a serious diagnosis.
Trauma Insurance usually covers 30-50 medical conditions, although the more elite policies can include almost 60 traumatic events. Most Trauma insurance policies will cover you for the following diseases and illnesses:
Disorders associated with the heart
- Heart attack
- Replacement of a heart valve
- Coronary bypass surgery
- Cardiomyopathy
- Coronary artery angiogram
Disorders associated with the nervous system
- Major head trauma
- Stroke
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Coma
- Dementia
- Encephalitis
- Paraplegia and Quadriplegia
- Motor neurone disease
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Brain tumour
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (also known as Mad Cow disease)
- Hemiplegia and Diplegia
- Peripheral neuropathy
Body organ disorders
- Cancer
- Loss of speech
- Kidney failure
- Major burns
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Chronic liver disease
- Major organ transplant
- Chronic lung disease
- Melanoma
- Prostate tumour
- Muscular dystrophy
- Pulmonary hypertension
Blood disorders
- HIV – accidental or occupational acquired
- Advanced Diabetes
- Aplastic Anaemia
Immune system disorders
- Multiple sclerosis
Skeletal disorders
- Loss of limb
- Osteoporosis
It’s important to read any insurance policy carefully, since only the illnesses included in each policy will be eligible for cover. If there is a particular condition you want guaranteed to be covered that isn’t listed in a policy, it is possible to include it for an increased premium.
Receiving a claim
For your claim to be processed without complications, you must make sure to declare any pre-existing conditions. It is also worth noting that conditions caused by intentional self-inflicted injury are usually excluded from a Trauma Insurance policy.
Trauma Insurance does not typically cover illnesses that are not considered to be life threatening – while a broken leg, for example, could see you out of work for several weeks, it is not serious enough to claim Trauma Insurance for. Take care to scrutinize any insurance policy before you commit.
If you do the research, it can truly pay off in the end. Costs can take a toll on your finances at a time when the last thing you need is additional stress. When you or a member of your family is suffering, you don’t want to be concerned about how you’re going to pay the next bill, install the life-saving medical equipment in your home or afford the costly medication. Trauma Insurance can give you the solace you need in a time where relaxation is a crucial component of recovery.
