COVID-19 support for you and your clients

With the pandemic causing lots of concerns, we’re committed to helping your clients.

Here is a summary of what we have offered your Tailored Protection (and other products previously offered by CommInsure) retail clients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

If you or your clients need support, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible to discuss the various financial hardship options available and our commitments to clients. Your clients can contact us directly on 13 1056 8:00 am to 6:00 pm (AEST/AEDT). Alternatively you can discuss your client’s policy by contacting your AIA Client Development Manager or Client Retention Manager.

If your client is experiencing affordability challenges, there are options within the Tailored Protection offering that your clients could consider to help reduce the cost of premiums. These include changes to policies, premium relief options and product options.

If your client is experiencing affordability challenges, there are options to consider that may reduce the cost of premiums:

• Remove Indexation: Removal of CPI increases from your client’s policy. The client may also decline their annual CPI increase as a once off, automatically resuming in subsequent years.
• Decrease cover: You could decrease cover, but clients would have to apply for an increase to restore cover levels and this would include the standard quote, application and underwriting processes.
• Update smoking status: If your client has stopped smoking tobacco or any other substance, and has not used a product containing nicotine or used an e-cigarette or related device during the last 12 months, they can apply to have their smoking status changed to non-smoker. (Please note if your client has quit smoking due to a deterioration in health or a diagnosed related medical condition e.g. heart disease or lung disorder then we will not offer non-smoker rates). 

If your client needs more immediate, short term relief, there are several premium relief options that we can offer your clients:

• Premium suspension: Your client can consider pausing their policy for three months, which will mean they will not pay premiums for this period. During this period, your client will not be covered under the terms of their policy and would be unable to claim for any claimable event that occurred within these three months.
• As your client will not be required to make any payment during the three-month suspension, as an adviser you will not receive any commission payments during this time.

We also provide various benefits that give your clients flexibility with their cover and future support. These include:

• Guaranteed Insurability: Provides your clients with the option to increase their Life Cover Sum Insured and, or their Income Protection Insured Monthly Benefit following certain events, without supplying further evidence of their health or insurability.

We’re proud to support an industry initiative to ensure that if our clients lose their job, are stood down or have reduced working hours due to COVID-19, their total and permanent disability (TPD) cover will not be affected, if they need to make a claim.

We hope this summary helps capture everything in one place. Looking further out as we emerge from the pandemic some of the temporary offers will naturally come to an end, so as always if you have any please contact your AIA Client Development Manager or Client Retention Manager.