An illness or injury is one of those things in life that you don’t always see coming, if ever at all. If you were to suffer from an illness or injury that prevented you from working ever again, would you be prepared to keep up with the costs of living? Could you pay your rent or mortgage, cover your children’s education, or meet the costs of expensive medical bills? The financial pressure from a loss of income would affect your family’s entire lifestyle, not just your own health.
With AMP’s Elevate Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Insurance, you can help give your family the future they planned for, and take the pressure off yourself. By providing a lump sum payment of up to $5 million, AMP can help you make ends meet.
What is a total and permanent disability?
AMP defines a total and permanent disability as a condition that means you:
- Are unlikely to work ever again, or
- Suffered a specific loss, such as a loss of a limb, eyesight or hearing, or
- Require future care, or
- Are unlikely to perform domestic work, or
- Suffered significant cognitive impairment
While AMP doesn’t limit your eligibility for claiming a benefit with a pre-defined set of specific medical conditions, the most common illnesses/injuries that trigger a claim include, cancer, mental illnesses, central nervous system diseases and musculoskeletal diseases.
What kind of TPD insurance can I choose from?
There are three different types of TPD Insurance to choose from. Each type has its own set of criteria for defining what a total and permanent disability is. This can greatly affect your eligibility for receiving a payout.
- Activities of daily living TPD
Covers those who are considered totally and permanently disabled, and are unable to fulfill their regular day-to-day activities. This includes eating, drinking, dressing/undressing and showering. - Own Occupation TPD
Covers you if you’re unlikely to ever work again in your most recent occupation. - Any Occupation TPD
Covers you if you’re unlikely to ever work again in any occupation and receive an income that’s greater than 25% of your income during your last 12 months of work. You may not receive a benefit if you can work in other occupations. For example, a surgeon who injures their hand may not be able to work as a surgeon again. They may be able to work as a lecturer at a university. This means they would not receive a payout.
AMP’s Elevate Insurance Plans allow you to structure your insurance in a way that suits your lifestyle and budget. However you structure your insurance, you’ll be able to pay for your premiums on a stepped, level or blended basis. This can determine how much your premium will be.
Stepped: Your premiums will increase every year as you get older.
Blended: Your premiums will be adjusted each year for the first 10 years, according to your age. After that, your premium will remain constant.
Level: You will pay the same premium year after year.
- Plans, options, and FlexiLink:
When purchasing your TPD Insurance, you can choose to purchase either as a plan or as an option on a plan. If you purchase your TPD as a plan, your TPD Insurance will act independently of any other insurance policies you have. This means that when you make a claim on your TPD insurance, it won’t affect any of your other plans.
If you purchase your TPD Insurance as an option on an AMP Elevate Life Insurance or Trauma Plan, any claims made on your TPD Plan will affect your other Plans. A lower premium is charged for options on Plans. However, this means that in the event of a TPD claim being paid out, the benefit of the Plan and any other insurance options attached to the Plan will be reduced by the amount of the claim. You can avoid this by purchasing Double TPD Insurance as an extra benefit.
You can also purchase your TPD insurance as an option attached to a Life Insurance superannuation plan. If you structure your TPD Insurance like this, your claimed benefit will not go directly to you. It will go to your Trustee, who will then decide if you qualify for a benefit under superannuation law. If you want your claim to go directly to you, you can purchase TPD Insurance as a FlexiLink Plan.
What’s included?
Along with a lump sum of between $50,000 and $5 million, TPD Insurance also provides the following benefits:
- Day One TPD
Whereas all claimants have to be unable to work for three months before they receive their benefit, AMP will wave this waiting period for specific medical conditions. These include total blindness, loss of speech, lung disease, tetraplegia and Alzheimer’s. - Future Insurability benefit
You can increase your insurance amount once every 12 months for specific life events, all without medical underwriting. - Indexation benefit
AMP will protect your benefit against the affects of inflation by increasing your benefit amount each year. This means your insurance will stay in line with the rising Consumer Price Index, so your insurance will retain its value year after year. - Interim cover
If you suffer from a total and permanent disability while your application is processed, AMP will provide you with an amount of up to $1 million and waive your premium. - Premium Freeze
If you want to keep your premium the same price every year, you can. However, your benefit amount will reduce each year this option is applied. - Upgrade of benefits
If AMP makes improvements to their TPD plans, they will automatically pass them on to your, as long as this doesn’t result in a premium increase. - 24-hour worldwide cover
Relocating overseas? AMP will still provide you with the protection you need, no matter where you are in the world. - Accommodation benefit
If you receive your benefit in full and have to stay more than 100km from home, you may need a family member to help take care of you. In this instance, AMP will pay a family member an accommodation benefit of up to $150 per day for up to 14 days. - Financial planning benefit
Need to seek professional financial advice? If you receive your claim in full, AMP will cover up to $2000 for the costs of getting a financial plan written up. - Partial TPD
If you suffer from the total and permanent loss of the use of one hand, foot or eyesight in one eye, AMP will pay you 25% of your TPD benefit.
For an extra cost, you can also include your children in your insurance, and protect your business assets.
Want to compare AMP’s Elevate TPD Insurance with other policies? You can compare more insurance products through our free quote service.
© 2012 Wealth Smart Life InsurancePage last updated: April 13, 2014