What is Trauma Insurance and How Does it Work?
But doesn't ACC provide this cover?
New Zealand's ACC scheme provides excellent protection for accidental injuries, helping with treatment costs and replacing up to 80% of lost earnings (subject to eligibility and limits). ACC does not, however, provide cover for serious illnesses such as cancer, heart attack or stroke, nor does it provide a lump sum to help with the broader financial impact these events can have on you and your family.
Every year, around 29,700 New Zealanders are diagnosed with cancer, approximately 12,000 are hospitalised following a heart attack, and more than 9,000 experience a stroke. These are the types of serious medical events that Trauma Insurance is designed to help protect against; providing financial support at a time when your focus should be on your health and recovery, not your finances.
What about Specific Injury Cover?
Specific Injury Cover (sometimes called Accidental Injury Cover) is different from Trauma Insurance. Rather than covering serious illnesses, it provides a lump sum if you suffer certain specified injuries as the result of an accident. Depending on the policy, this may include injuries such as fractures to the collarbone, wrist, forearm or jaw, major ligament or tendon injuries requiring surgery, severe burns, fractures to the hip or pelvis, loss of sight or hearing, or even the loss of a limb.
While ACC provides valuable support following an accident, Specific Injury Cover can provide an additional cash payment to help with expenses that arise during your recovery, giving you greater financial flexibility when you need it most. As with all insurance policies, the injuries covered, and the benefit payable, will vary between insurers and policy wordings.
Make a difference – Plan ahead
One of the benefits of arranging Trauma Insurance while you're young and healthy is the ability to choose level premiums. While stepped premiums generally start at a lower cost and increase as you get older, level premiums are designed to remain relatively stable over time. Although they typically cost more initially, many people choose to level some or all of their Trauma Insurance to help maintain affordability in later years, when the likelihood of needing cover is often greater.
The most appropriate premium structure will depend on your age, budget, and long-term objectives, making it an important discussion to have with your Futurisk Financial Adviser.
How to select and structure your Trauma Insurance
Trauma Insurance isn't a one-size-fits-all product. Depending on the insurer and policy, there are different ways your cover can be structured.
Some policies allow multiple claims for different medical conditions over time (often referred to as continuous or reinstatable Trauma Cover). Other policies have different benefit structures, where the amount payable may depend on the seriousness of the covered medical condition. These features can provide greater flexibility and, depending on the policy selected, may also offer a more cost-effective way of protecting yourself against serious illness.
Give your Futurisk Financial Adviser a call
At Futurisk, we work with a range of leading insurers, each offering different features, benefits and premium structures. Whether you're reviewing your existing cover or considering Trauma Insurance for the first time, a Futurisk Financial Adviser will take time to explain all the available options, help you understand the differences between policies, and work with you to find a solution that suits your needs, budget and stage of life.
What is Trauma Insurance and How Does it Work?
When people think about insurance, health and life insurance are usually the first types of cover that come to mind. However, Trauma Insurance is another valuable form of protection, and it is often overlooked.
Trauma Insurance provides a tax-free lump sum payment if you are diagnosed with a specified serious illness or experience a covered medical event, such as certain cancers, a heart attack, stroke, major organ failure, or other conditions defined in the policy.
Unlike health insurance, which helps cover eligible medical expenses, a Trauma Insurance benefit is paid directly to you. This gives you the freedom to use the funds in whatever way best supports your situation, whether that's replacing lost income, meeting mortgage repayments, covering everyday living costs, funding rehabilitation, travelling for treatment, or simply providing financial breathing room while you and your family focus on recovery.
At a time when your health and wellbeing need to be the priority, Trauma Insurance can help ease financial stress and provide greater peace of mind when it matters most.
Bonus Trauma Insurance cover for your children
Many Trauma Insurance policies also automatically include complimentary cover for dependent children when a parent holds Trauma Insurance. While the level of cover and policy conditions vary between insurers, the insurers Futurisk works with generally provide up to $50,000 of Trauma Cover for eligible dependent children at no additional cost.
This means, if your child is diagnosed with a serious illness or medical condition covered under the policy, this benefit can provide a tax-free lump sum payment to help ease the financial burden that often accompanies a child's illness. The funds provided by Trauma Insurance can be used in whatever way best supports your family, whether that's allowing you, the parent, to take time off work, covering travel and accommodation costs for specialist treatment, or helping manage additional household expenses.
During an already challenging time, this benefit can provide valuable financial support and greater peace of mind, allowing your family to focus on what matters most: your child's care and recovery.
As with all insurance policies, benefits, eligibility requirements, and covered conditions vary between insurers and individual policy wordings.