Life and Trauma Insurance to Keep Your Child Covered
As a parent or guardian, your primary responsibility is the health and safety of your child. Select insurers may offer life insurance and trauma insurance (also known as child cover) for children as an additional option to your life, TPD or Trauma Cover Policy, extending insurance protection to more of your family.
Published April 20, 2021
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- What is child trauma insurance?
- What does Child cover include?
- Who can apply for child trauma insurance or child cover?
- What are the benefit amounts available?
- How does the Child Life Insurance option work?
- How much does child cover cost?
- Products with Free Built-In Child Cover
- Products with Optional Child Cover Added
- Other things to consider:
What is child trauma insurance?
Child Trauma Insurance, also sometimes known as Family Protection, is generally designed to insure your child against a number of critical illnesses. This life insurance for child option can be included as part of your trauma cover policy or, in some cases, it can be added as part of your Life and TPD policies.
What does Child cover include?
Child Cover will generally insure your child against a number of critical illnesses that are specified in the Policy Disclosure Statement (PDS), as well as terminal illness or death. In most cases, the critical illnesses that are included as part of the child cover are the critical illnesses most likely to affect children.
A summary of general critical illnesses is included below:
Cancers and Tumours:
- Benign Brain Tumour
- Benign Tumour of the spine
- Cancer
Nervous system disorders:
- Encephalitis
- Meningitis and or meningococcal disease
Heart Conditions:
- Cardiomyopathy
Body organ conditions:
- Chronic kidney failure
- Major organ transplant
Brain Disorders:
- Brain damage
- Major head trauma
- Stroke
Mobility conditions:
- Loss or paralysis of limb
Sensory conditions:
- Blindness
- Deafness
Blood Disorders:
- Aplastic Anaemia
Please consult the relevant PDS for a more detailed explanation of what trauma conditions and illnesses are covered by each insurer.
Who can apply for child trauma insurance or child cover?
Any of your children (biological or adopted) who are between the ages of 2 – 15 are eligible and generally coverage is available up to the age of 21. You may be able to insure as many children as you want under your policy. However, select insurers do have a limit in place.
What are the benefit amounts available?
Free cover:
- Select insurers offer up to $10,000 – $20,000 of free cover for each child covered under the policy.
Additional or paid cover:
- Most companies offer a paid option where you can ensure each child up to $200,000, however most of them will only allow you to have the same sum insured for all your children.
How does the Child Life Insurance option work?
If you include this option as part of your life, TPD or trauma policy and your child suffers from one of the specified critical illnesses (as defined in the product disclosure statement), is diagnosed with a terminal illness or passes away, you will generally receive a lump sum benefit for the sum insured up to a maximum of $200,000.
How much does child cover cost?
The number of children you wish to insure and how much cover you want will affect how much your child cover costs. It may only cost a few dollars extra per month to insure your children.
In some cases, insurers may offer a child trauma discount if you take out the cover above a certain amount.
Products with Free Built-In Child Cover
| Insurer | Amount of Adult Cover | Level of Free Child Cover | Premiums* |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIA | $1,000,000 | Lessor of 10% sum insured or $20,000 | $35.24 |
| BT | $1,000,000 | $27.31 | |
| MLC | $1,000,000 | $40.24 | |
| OnePath | $1,000,000 | $41.95 | |
| TAL | $1,000,000 | $10,000 | $34.89 |
| NEOS | $1,000,000 | $10,000 | $34.60 |
| Zurich | $1,000,000 | $36.11 |
Source: Life Insurance Direct comparison engine (April 2021)
* Premiums are based on a 40-year old, non-smoking, white-collar professional, female, having $1,000,000 worth of life insurance on a stepped premium. Refer to PDS for more information.
Products with Optional Child Cover Added
| Insurer | Amount of Adult Cover | Amount of Optional Child Cover | Premiums* |
|---|---|---|---|
| BT | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $37.66 |
| AIA | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $46.04 |
| TAL | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $47.90 |
| OnePath | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $47.14 |
| Zurich | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $49.58 |
| NEOS | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $49.90 |
| MLC | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $54.56 |
| CommInsure | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $64.31 |
Source: Iress comparison engine (April 2021)
Premiums are based on a 40-year old, non-smoking, white-collar professional, female, having $1,000,000 worth of life insurance and $100,000 of optional child trauma on a stepped premium. Refer to PDS for more information.
Other things to consider:
Superannuation
Generally child cover is not available as part of any policy held inside a superannuation environment.
School Fees Protector
Do you want to give your children the best education possible but are worried about being able to afford the cost of private school fees if something should happen to you or your partner?
AIA Australia have introduced a optional benefit which can help to pay for your children’s school fees if you become totally and permanently disabled, terminally ill or you pass away. It can provide you with peace of mind knowing your children’s school fees are protected and hopefully prevent you from having to relocate them to a more affordable school, away from their friends and established support network. Together with child insurance, it can provide your children with excellent protection.
About the School Fees Protector Benefit
| Child entry ages: | 2 – 15 |
| Up to a maximum of 10 children | |
| Available with: | Life Insurance |
| Total and Permanently Disablement Cover | |
| Benefit payable: | Primary School The lesser of: $8,000; Your child’s tuition fees; and 10% of the sum insured |
| Secondary (High) School The lesser of: $16,000; and Child’s tuition fees; and 10% of the sum insured of the principle benefit |
The school fees will be covered for the remainder of the child’s education.
Case Study
Steve and Tina have a single child Rebecca enrolled in Year 3 in a prestigious private school in their area with the school charging $7,000 per year in enrollment fees.
Steve, working as an electrician and Tina working part-time as an auditor, realise that if something were to happen to either of them, they would not be able to afford the school fees for Rebecca.
They decide to take out School Fees Protection as an option to Steve’s $2 million TPD cover through AIA Australia, to make sure their daughter’s school fees are covered should something happen to them.
Unfortunately, shortly after Rebecca begins years 4, Steve is injured in an accident at work which causes him to lose the use of his leg, making him totally and permanently disabled and unable to work.
Fortunately, Steve and Tina were still able to pay Rebecca’s school fees for the remaining years of her school life:
- Primary school: $7,000 x 3
- High School: $12,000 x 6
- Total Benefit: $73,000
90 day Waiting/Exclusion period
Unless the child cover is replacing already existing cover or cover that is similar, the cover will not apply, and no benefit will be payable if a critical illness occurs or is first diagnosed in the first 90 days of the policy.
Conversion Age:
Generally, when the child turns 21 and is no longer covered under the child cover option, your life insurance company will give you the choice of converting the trauma policy into a full trauma insurance policy.
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Do you offer insurance for loss of jobs to cover school fees until parent(s) successfully finds another job?
Hi Dalia
Thank you for the question, unfortunately we don’t have access to any type of school fee insurance cover that covers school fees when the parent is between roles or has lost their job. The policy we do have access to which is the School Fee Protector benefit you can add onto a Life or TPD policy with AIA. This will pay a lump sum benefit towards your child’s school fees if you become totally and permanently disabled, pass away or you become terminally ill.