Trauma insurance, also known as living insurance, provides you with a lump sum payment should you be diagnosed with any of a wide range of medical conditions. The type of condition you will be covered for varies between different insurance companies with the fewer conditions covered the lower the price of the insurance. All companies cover the five most common ailments, these being:

• Cancer.
• Heart attack.
• Coronary bypass.
• Stroke.
• Loss of a limb.

The benefits BT Living Insurance provide at a most traumatic and vulnerable stage in your life can help to eliminate financial stress in that no matter what your physical and medical condition you can rest assured that neither you nor your family will have to suffer from a lack of money at the same time. It will also be available to pay any extra medical costs that may not be available under your health insurance, or Medicare, as well as any rehabilitation costs.

Living Insurance Can be Added to Your Life Insurance or Taken Out as a Stand Alone Policy

You can either have living insurance added to you BT term life insurance policy or purchase it as a stand alone policy whichever way you choose the full level of insurance cover offered in a BT living Insurance policy is available for you to peruse in the BT Protection Plans Product Disclosure Statement that can be viewed online. It includes the following:

• Inflation protection. As inflation increases your benefits will grow in value at the same rate as the CPI. This means your cover will be always retain the same value. The guaranteed upgrades will give you the certainty of knowing that your policy will be automatically upgraded with no additional charge.
• Your policy is guaranteed renewable. No matter what your health in future years your policy renewal will be guaranteed until the term of cover expires.
• Worldwide cover. No matter where you find yourself in the world you will have the same cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Approved medical conditions that you can claim against. Besides being covered against occasioning a heart attack, cancer, coronary by-pass, stroke or loss of a limb, you are covered against contacting more than 50 other specified injuries and medical conditions.
• A loyalty benefit is paid if you keep your policy with BT for three years. It will be in the form of paying you an extra 5 percent of any benefit you successfully claim for without you having to pay any extra.
• Living Benefit Plus introduction. Existing customers with Living Benefit will automatically be upgraded to Living Benefit Plus. New customers will have a choice between Living Benefit and Living Benefit Plus. The advantage of Living Benefit Plus is that it will give you a wider range of medical conditions to insure yourself against. There is also an Advancement Benefit to take into consideration.
• Living Insurance Death Benefit. If you purchase a stand alone policy you can also benefit from the BT Living Insurance Death Benefit that pays the same insured amount on your death as it would have for the medical condition or injury suffered.
• Needlestick benefit for medical professionals. A lump sum amount will be paid if a medical professional contracts Hepatitis B or C or HIV while practising their usual occupation.
• Children’s benefit and Child support benefit are both featured in BT Living Insurance policies. The Children’s benefit will be paid if the insured child contracts any of a wide range of specific medical conditions.
• Financial Planning and Counselling benefits. These are available if the trauma was such that you felt the need for a financial planner to hep restructure you finances to enable you to face the future with a feeling of financial security. Counselling up to a value of $5,000 is also available to assist you into coming to terms with your new lifestyle. There is also a living reinstatement benefit that will allow your policy to be reinstated after a claim has been made and paid out on.

Living insurance was first introduced into Australia in 1986. At that time it was better know as trauma insurance. Some companies refer to it as critical illness insurance. Whatever you wish to call them, they are all the same. If you were to succumb to a critical illness while you are loaded with debt, such as many people find themselves in when they take on a mortgage and start raising a family, the consequences to your family can be the same as if you had died. With living insurance the benefit is paid when the diagnosis of your medical condition is confirmed. Not after you have died from it. You and your family will receive a lump sum payment that can allow you to pay out your mortgage, car, or any other debts you may have at the time, therefore freeing up much needed funds to help pay your ongoing living expenses with.