ClearView has released details of an October upgrade to its LifeSolutions product range, where the focus has been around returning people to health and work.
Taking effect from 1 October 2018, the insurer has noted in a release that its enhancements include the removal of barriers, such as:
- Returning to work rules during the waiting period
- Making rehabilitation benefits available from day one of disability for income protection customers
Other enhancements detailed in the release include:
- Renaming of trauma medical definitions to ensure they are easier to understand
- Updated/improved trauma definitions
- Update to the ‘terminal illness’ definition to a 24-month definition
The insurer has also introduced a new retraining benefit for policies held outside of superannuation, designed, according to ClearView, to give people on an income protection claim the opportunity to retrain in order to re-join the workforce in a role that is meaningful and suitable for them.
Well-known ClearView GM of Distribution, Christopher Blaxland-Walker, said the changes included the removal of the waiting period under the insurer’s relapse benefit for customers who need to make a further claim application for the same, or related, condition.
Blaxland-Walker provided the example of customers who have been on an income protection claim and returned to work only to find they need to take further time off, and can do so without the need to restart their waiting period. He said this now applies regardless of the time back at work whereas previously, the waiting period would apply again if a customer returned to work for a period longer than six or twelve months.
…people who are out of work for more than three months are at significantly higher risk of suffering from depression and anxiety
“Research shows that work participation has many health benefits, and that being off – or out of – work for an extended period of time is a risk to mental health and well-being,” said Blaxland-Walker, who also referenced the Royal Australasian College of Physicians’ Report – Realising the health benefits of work – which found that people who are out of work for more than three months are at significantly higher risk of suffering from depression and anxiety.
Advisers can click here to access detailed notes on all updates and enhancements and can access the updated 1 October 2018 Product Disclosure Statement – Issue 4 in the LifeSolutions series – from the Riskinfo Resource Centre (click here).
