Does Covid-19 affect my life, disability & health insurance?
The short answer No! If you have an existing life insurance policy, or if you have an income protection policy, and you die or become disabled due to Covid-19 or related symptoms you can expect that your insurance will perform as if you are diagnosed with any other medical condition. The same applies if you have insured your business for loss of revenue if you are unable to work due to sickness or accident.
If you are insured with any of the mainstream insurers, and this is most likely, then your existing policy wording cannot be changed to exclude the symptoms of Covid-19, or the consequences of becoming infected, on any of the insurance cover you currently have in place.
The same applies to any consequences of the virus, or of having the vaccination. For example, a family member of ours suffered Myocarditis following the second vaccination resulting in a weakened heart and some dead heart tissue, his existing insurance would cover him for this.
When we consider Trauma Insurance (also called Critical Illness Cover & Living Assurance) we need to remember this only covers specific named conditions, and of course Covid-19 is not one of these and is unlikely to ever be.
However, if you suffer from a specified condition as a result of contracting Covid-19, or as a result of the vaccine, then you will be covered even though Covid-19 was the trigger event or cause.
So, let’s talk about Private Medical Insurance – most policies do not have guaranteed policy wording like life, trauma & income insurance. This means that the insurer can send you a letter changing the policy wording and could, if they wish, exclude Covid-19 from your existing medical insurance policy.
However, some private medical insurers do have “Guaranteed Policy Wording”, these insurers cannot change your policy once in force (except to improve it). You should contact your insurer to check your policy to see if you have guaranteed policy wording.
As we speak, no insurer in NZ is applying any Covid-19 restrictions to new policies taken out, so now is a great time to review your insurance programme and ensure it is up to date and that your family and your business are adequately protected.
