New financial services brand Million Dollar Woman (MDW) has announced the launch of life insurance aimed at the stay-at-home-parent market.
The Suncorp-owned company offers cover of up to $900 a week to pay for household duties usually performed by home-makers if the life insured is injured or falls ill.
“This has taken 100 years but the housework that Australian mums perform every day is finally being recognised and valued,” said Million Dollar Woman Chief Executive Lynette Argent.
“This unpaid work is crucial to the Australian economy as it has traditionally allowed the primary breadwinner to dedicate themselves to their paid job,” she said.
While the entire focus of the product and its marketing is on stay at home mothers, MDW confirms this product is available to both male and female home makers and has been positioned as the ‘missing link’ between life insurance and health insurance.
Million Dollar Woman’s Living Insurance offers the following covers:
- Day-to-Day Living Expenses Cover which pays either $1,000 or $1,500 fortnightly if the insured is sick or injured for more than 14 consecutive days and unable to perform two or more typical household tasks. An additional $300 Bill Booster option can be purchased to cover extra bills that come in during the illness/injury period.
- Accidental Injury Cover which pays a lump sum in the event of an accident. The amount paid depends on the type of injury.
- Death Cover where the client can choose the amount of cover up to $1 million in increments of $100,000.
- Serious Sickness Cover, a trauma-style contract that pays a lump sum if the life insured suffers one of a list of illnesses
Kids Cover can be purchased as a rider to an adult policy, and a Funeral Cover benefit of $15,000 is included with the policy.
The process is supported by what the company calls “a new and hassle-free claims procedure” and is based on the policyholder’s ability to perform their normal domestic responsibilities, including:
- Cooking and preparing meals using basic ingredients and kitchen appliances.
- Cleaning the house, including using a vacuum cleaner and mop.
- Washing and drying clothes using a washing machine and outdoor washing line.
- Shopping for groceries including fruit and vegetables, laundry items and household cleaning products.
- Looking after children under the age of 12 (if you do this as part of your everyday activities at home), including bathing, dressing, feeding and taking to school.
“For more than a century products have been offered that cater for the main income earner of a household, typically men, if they get sick or injured,” Ms Argent said.
“Million Dollar Woman is a new brand that helps mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, and girlfriends embrace financial security and independence,” she added.
This product is one of the few life insurance offers on the market to have received main-stream media coverage, with the story featuring on morning television and radio programs.
According to research commissioned by Suncorp, of the 8.6 million Australian women aged 18 and over, approximately 1.2 million were so seriously injured in the last six months that they were unable to clean their own house.
“We will pay women up to $900 a week if customers are hurt or ill, which could be spent on a cleaner, cook, nanny or to pay someone to do their grocery shopping while they rest and recover. Ultimately the choice is theirs,” said Ms Argent.
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