Asteron product changes outlined
Asteron has revamped many of its life insurance products in a move to become far more competitive. We outline some of the changes here.
Tuesday, July 17th 2012, 6:00AM
Trauma
With its trauma products Asteron has acknowledged it was too rigid and inflexible so it has unbundled the product and it is now possible to have partial trauma benefits, life buy-back and trauma reinstatement as optional extras.
It has improved definitions by aligning them with the clinical interpretation, in particular heart attack, cancer and heart valve surgery.
Also Asteron’s underwriters can now offer a discount if cancer is excluded from a policy. In a typical case where just cancer is excluded, a 20% reduction to the Trauma Recovery premium can be applied."This ensures that the remainder of the trauma policy still presents value for money across all conditions that are covered."
TPD & Life cover
With TPD it has revised its definitions and is more competitive and has a confirmed number one ranking from researcher IRESS Changes to Life cover also result in a confirmed number one rating from IRESS.
Also claims payments are no longer related to how long policy has been in force.
Disability income cover
The main change here is a review of commission which sees up front year one commission increase from 80% to 100%. Retention year one option increases from 60% to 80% and level option rises fromo 17.5% to 20% in year one onwards.
Asteron has made changes to the definition of disablement which it says will make it easier to claim.
"We have always aspired to have the best product," claims manager Chris Bell says
It has also removed more offset provisions to provide more certainty at claim time. Sick leave entitlements and government superannuation payments are no longer offset at claim time.
Business Insurance
The company acknowledges it has "received quite a bit of stick" over premium levels and age related benefits.
Asteron has extended the maximum cover age from 65 to 70.
It has taken the axe to premiums in this area and made reductions in various age brackets.
- For 20-30 year olds the reductions are up to 57%
- For 31-40 year olds the reductions are up to 47%
- For 41-50 year olds the reductions are up to 38%
- For people over 51 premiums have increased 9%.
"We now have a quality fit-for-purpose business offering," Frecklington says.
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