Whilst not all agree that a copy of the UK and South African ‘severity based’ Trauma insurance is right just yet for the Australian market, the product has now been launched by Macquarie after three years on the making.
This new class of insurance contract is called Macquarie Life Active and is modeled after the South African style contract where tiered benefits are available to claimants under their Trauma or Critical Illness contracts.  Most of the existing Trauma contracts on the market are an ‘all or nothing’ style contract where you either qualify for the full benefit, or get a partial payout of 10% for less severe claims.
What makes Macquarie Life Active different is that the client is able to have multiple claims for various trauma events under the one policy.  The severity of the condition you are claiming for and it’s impact on your finances and lifestyle is what determines the level of payout merited.
No longer do you need to head back to the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and go poring over definitions when you suffer an illness, but need to provide details on the impact of the trauma on your life.
Although the contract does have it’s detractors who note that full ‘payouts’ would be available under existing contracts whilst only a ‘partial payment’ is made under the new contract, it still has a place in the market.
Like everything – it’s ‘horses for courses’ and I’m sure the interest in Macquarie Life Active from Advisers and consumers will grow over time, and other companies in the coming years will wait and see the impact of something so new before jumping in and offering their own version of the policy.
It has however already snagged a couple of awards as the Best Life Insurance Product of the Year from the Australian Banking & Finance (AB+F) Insurance Awards, designed to celebrate and highlight the achievements of Australia’s Insurance sector; and also the Best Value for Money award from Your Money Magazine.  Not bad for the new kid on the block.
Here’s a link to a quick overview of the Product Macquarie tout as “Life Insurance made for living.”  http://www.macquarie.com.au/macquarielife/documents/active-client-flyer.pdf
Otherwise, give me a call I can arrange individual quotes and post out the full Product Disclosure Statement for you to learn more.

Life Insurance made for Living