AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries make up the largest independent and publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group across the globe. It has branches in 14 Asian Pacific markets, specifically Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Macau, Brunei, Australia and New Zealand. A joint venture shareholding is also present in India.

The present AIA business has had its roots in Shanghai for over 90 years. It is one of Asia Pacific’s market leaders (excluding Japan) in life insurance premiums. AIA holds leading positions across most of its markets’ majority. AIA offers a wide range of products and services that fall under savings and protection needs. These services include life insurance, accident and health insurance, as well as retirement planning.

The group also provides corporate clients with employee benefits, credit life and pension services.

AIA Income Protection

AIA has been around for nearly a century, and is well attuned to the fact that people’s life needs changes in different stages. However, your need to find a good way to keep yourself and your family protected will not change.

AIA offers various life insurance plans to protect you and your family from accidents, disabilities, illness or death. These insurance plans are aimed to help you avoid or at least alleviate financial strains if the occasion arises. AIA has a wide range of health insurance plans that include medical, hospitalisation and long term care to critical illness.

Benefits of AIA Income Protection

One of the products AIA offers is the income protection policy. The first and possibly only kind of insurance people think of purchasing is life insurance for cases when something happens to them, as life insurance helps provide for their families if they unexpectedly pass on.

Income protection insurances work by providing you with an income if you cannot earn one due to disability or severe illness. Owners of small businesses can also consider income protection insurance to ensure that the continuity of their business is looked after even if the owner cannot run it for himself.

AIA’s Income Protection Benefit also covers the Income Protection Accident Only benefit that provides you with a monthly income if you were injured or disabled because of an accident. These benefits are guaranteed renewable for as long as the premiums are paid. This means that if you are accidentally injured more than once, AIA will pay you that benefit. It is also guaranteed to be renewed each year until the policy or the benefit expires.

The benefits provided by AIA are available on an agreed value basis. The income at the time of the application will be used when calculating the amount for the insured monthly benefit. No offsets are provided to the monthly benefit for white collar professionals and medical professionals, taking into account their compensation payments or motor accident claims.

Death Benefit

With most income insurance protection policies, you will not get anything if you die regardless of the cause. With AIA, they will pay a death benefit that totals six times the insured monthly benefit, but not going beyond $60,000.

PLUS Optional Benefit

When you sign up for AIA’s Insurance Protection, you can also opt to get their PLUS Optional benefit. The PLUS Optional benefit guarantees that if no claim is made for at least three years after you’ve signed up for it, you will be rewarded by increasing your monthly benefit at no extra cost.

If the claim-free years run for three years, the benefit will be increased by a bonus of 5%. If it goes for 4 years, AIA will increase it by 10%, and for 5 claim-free years, a bonus of 15% will be added. These increased benefits will be paid for up to 12 months while you are receiving your claim payments. This benefit will only be paid once by AIA during the policy’s lifetime.

Other Benefits

Under AIA’s Insurances Protection plans, you can get additional benefits that cover different situations that may not be offered by other insurance companies.

• Crisis Recovery Benefit – medical practitioners have high risk jobs where they can contract any illness or disease at any time. With this benefit, 41 crisis events are detailed in their policy’s terms. If a medical practitioner is disabled by any of these, AIA will pay a lump sum benefit that is equal to six times the insured monthly benefit.
• Guaranteed Future Insurability Benefit provides you with the option to increase your insured monthly benefit when your salary package increases. This does not include medical underwriting and is available only for people who are earning a wage. Self-employed persons are unable to avail of this benefit.
• Severity benefit works for those who have been disabled to the extent that they cannot perform regular activities of daily living as described by their policy. This applies to you if you have been on claim for more than six consecutive months after the waiting period ends and cannot perform the said functions or if you are being cared for my another adult. AIA will then pay you an additional 1/3 of your monthly insured benefit, up to a maximum of $30,000 until the end of the benefit period.

AIA Income Protection Plan empowers you with flexible terms and benefits

One of the major features of an income protection plan is getting paid an income even when you are not working. Your AIA income protection plan will give you the security of receiving a monthly income once you are disabled or unable to work due to serious medical conditions or major accidents. You can renew your policy every year when your insurance expires without any other conditions or requirements. Your renewal is not subject to review on any changes in your occupation, lifestyle or health.

You are given flexible terms to choose from. The benefits available for you will depend upon your agreed value. The benefits you will receive each month will depend upon the amount calculated in your in your approved policy application. Policy holders are given the leeway to choose the plans which they find most suitable for their needs and what they find is the most appropriate for their budget and lifestyle.

In addition to the monthly benefit, the insured member of AIA income protection plan is also covered in the case of death. While their insurance plan is in force and if the insured member dies, they are entitled to death benefits worth ix times their monthly income benefit up to a maximum of $60,000. Moreover, insured members who do not claim their benefits for at least three years from purchasing their plan will be entitled to a PLUS optional benefit that will increase the amount of their insured monthly benefit without an extra cost at the end. This extra feature of the AIA income protection plan is paid only once in the lifetime of the policy.

Restrictions on Claims for Income Protection Plan

If you are interested in taking out an income protection plan, it is important to understand the restrictions and limitations that come with your insurance. The basic feature of an income protection plan is to provide a partial income supplement to the insured in case of illness or accident. You cannot claim for a monthly income benefit if your unemployment is due to other reasons. The amount of your premium is also related to the deferred period in your policy. The deferred periods typically take a minimum of 4 weeks up to 52 weeks. The premium is decreased with an increased deferred period.

You should also check the exclusions provided by the insurance agencies where you cannot claim your monthly benefits if the reason of your illness or injury is due to certain conditions such as drug and alcohol abuse, self inflicting, pregnancy, war and criminal acts. Then there are the maximum allowable monthly benefits that you can avail from your policy. Also, any change of your occupation may render your policy insurance invalid or the life insurance agency will require you to adjust your premiums that will include new risks.

Suitability of an AIA income protection plan to your needs

It is important to note that getting an income protection plan is not only to offer you protection against unemployment. The benefit is only paid by the insurance agency when unemployment arises from incapacity to work. You may need to get mortgage payment protection insurance, an accident or sickness insurance policy to complement your income protection plan. Getting an AIA income protection plan can cover you for the gaps of benefits that may result from statutory sick pay and other incapacity benefit. Since income protection insurance is not health or death insurance you will need to get a separate insurance policy for these purposes.

AIA offers a comprehensive plan for income insurance policies. Not only do they provide the basic service of providing a monthly income if you are disabled, but there are options to cover other instances that may not be considered valid by other policies. AIA has a long history and a solid reputation that guarantees their policies and services are sound. If you are looking for a reliable income protection insurance provider, consider AIA as your top pick.