Personal Accident & Illness Insurance provides a weekly benefit as a portion
of your income should you be unable to work due to a covered event –
being bodily injury or sickness.
This form of cover is important to have if you are a sole trader or a
contractor and not covered by workers compensation insurance.
There are 2 forms of cover available;
* Accident only cover provides weekly benefits when you are injured
from an accident which prevents you from returning to work
* Accident and sickness cover can cover accidents and also any sickness
that may prevent you from returning to work
In order to make a claim you must satisfy the Waiting Period. The waiting
Period is the period you would be off work, after an accident or sickness, but
before the policy would start to pay a benefit. Generally, the longer the
waiting period, the lower the premium. Most insurers offer 7, 14- or 28-day
waiting periods.
With most insurers you have a selection of either 1- or 2-year benefit
periods. The Benefit Period is the maximum length of time the benefits will
run for, unless you are able to return to work earlier.
How are premiums calculated? Premiums are calculated based on
* Age – the older you are, the longer it usually takes to recover so the
premium goes up as you get older
* Occupation – office workers have a lower premium as they can work
with some injuries e.g. broken ankle, whereas a construction worker
could not work at all
* Weekly sum insured/benefit – The higher the cover, the higher the
premium
* Benefit period – a 1 year benefit period is a lower premium than a 2
year benefit period as it is a lower risk to the insurer.