Trauma Insurance

Don’t let critical illness lead to your financial ruin

What is Trauma Insurance?

Trauma Insurance is a policy that pays you a lump-sum amount if you are diagnosed with an insured critical condition like heart-attack, cancer, major kidney failure etc. Trauma Insurance is also called Critical Illness Insurance or Dread Disease Cover (as it was called by the famous heart surgeons Professor Chris Barnard and Dr Marius Barnard, who performed the first heart transplant, from South Africa. Dr Barnard created the first dread disease cover in 1983, to cover the diagnosis of severe illnesses because of the high medical and surgical costs involved in traumatic events.

Generally, there are two types of Trauma policies: Standard and Plus. The thing to understand is, that different insurers have a different list of what they cover and the severity. The lists below are for general purpose only. If you have specific queries, we are more than happy to help you with them.

Standard Trauma Insurance

Generally Standard Trauma Insurance policies in Australia cover the following:

Benign brain tumour
Benign tumour of the spine
Cancer
Aortic surgery
Cardiomyopathy
Coronary artery by-pass surgery
Heart attack
Heart valve surgery
Open heart surgery
Cardiac arrest
Primary pulmonary hypertension
Triple vessel angioplasty
Alzheimer’s disease
Brain damage
Cognitive loss
Dementia
Parkinson’s disease
Major head trauma
Stroke
Encephalitis
Meningitis and/or meningococcal disease
Blindness
Deafness
Loss or paralysis of limb
Motor neurone disease

Multiple sclerosis
Muscular dystrophy
Severe rheumatoid arthritis
Aplastic anaemia
Medically acquired HIV
Occupationally acquired HIV
Chronic kidney failure
Chronic liver disease
Chronic lung disease
Major organ transplant
Pneumonectomy
Systemic sclerosis
Coma
Intensive care
Loss of speech
Severe burns
Severe diabetes
Terminal illness
Diagnosed benign tumour
Angioplasty
Minor heart attack
Hydrocephalus
Colostomy and/or ileostomy
Severe endometriosis
Adult insulin dependent diabetes mellitus*

Burns of limited extent
Critical care
Absence of hand or foot
Cleft lip and/or palate
Congenital blindness
Congenital deafness
Developmental dysplasia of the hip
Down’s Syndrome
Disseminated intravascular coagulation
Eclampsia
Ectopic pregnancy
Hydatidiform mole
Infant death
Infantile hydrocephalus
Neonatal death
Oesophageal atresia
Spina bifida myelomeningocele
Stillbirth
Tetralogy of fallot
Trache-oesophageal fistula
Transposition of great vessels
Systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with lupus nephritis

Trauma Plus Insurance

Generally Trauma Plus Insurance policies in Australia cover the following:

Diabetes Complication
Carcinoma in situ of the Cervix Uteri
Carcinoma in situ of the Vulva or Perineum of limited extent
Carcinoma in situ of the Vagina
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia
Hydatidiform Mole
Melanoma
Partial Blindness
Partial Loss of Hearing
Severe Osteoporosis

Please Note:
Exact Definitions: It is crucial to note that besides a general list, there are highly specific medical definitions given in the Product Disclosure Statements of insurers.

Severity: It is also important to understand that specific illnesses receive full benefit payouts and partial illness receives a percentage of the benefit.

Trauma Plus Policies: The ailments that are considered a part of a standard Trauma policy by one insurer may be listed as Trauma Plus by another.

The best way to find out what an insurer covers is to read the Product Disclosure Statement. Alternatively, we can discuss your Trauma Insurance policy options and help you make a suitable choice.

Why Trauma Insurance?

As you know serious illnesses and death do not discriminate between class, colour, age or gender and thus it is crucial that everyone considers Trauma Insurance. Of course, nobody really wants serious health problems, but unfortunately, bad health does happen. Trauma Insurance covers you for life’s nasty surprises. What’s more, you can usually bundle it with your Life Insurance in order to save costs.

Options when setting up your Trauma Insurance Policy

In Australia, if you bundle Trauma Insurance under your life insurance as either an auxiliary or a rider benefit, then you get both the benefits under one policy. This bundled policy reduces your premium payments considerably rather than having them as separate, stand-alone policies.

You can bundle the policies by talking to us.

Things you need to know

In case of trauma, there is a survival period of 14 days. This means that you need to survive a traumatic event for 14 days to become eligible.
If you have a stand-alone trauma policy and if you death occurred in the first 14 days from you succumbing to the traumatic event then you will not be eligible to receive the benefit. However, if your trauma policy was bundled along with a Life insurance policy then you would receive only your life insurance benefit.
Different insurance companies have different guidelines on what is covered in their Product Disclosure Statements or PDS.
Generally all trauma policies have a waiting period of 90 days.

Comparing Trauma Insurance Quotes

Apart from these, quotes also vary depending on your individual situation like your age, whether you are a smoker or not, and gender. This is not gender bias but because there is a gender difference in health conditions and thus the difference.

The premium you pay depends also on the type of policy you choose, namely:

Standard Policy or Plus Policy
The expiry age of the policy
The definition of the policy and the conversion of definition when you reach a certain age
Sum insured
Difference in Premiums: Stepped premiums that increase with age or Level premiums that generally remain the same unless there is a change, for example, an increase in cover.