Does Trauma Protection Cover Me If I Have Had Covid-19?
Trauma insurance, which is also known as Critical Illness insurance, covers specified, serious conditions.
Owing to the current global pandemic, there have been many asking the question: does trauma insurance cover me if I am infected with Covid-19?
The answer is ‘no, it does not cover Covid-19’.
Aspect Underwriting’s Trauma insurance provides a lump sum amount to the insured for 11 pre-defined medical events, which does not include viral diseases like Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19).
Insurance agencies or underwriters provide product disclosure statements (PDS) that outline coverage details of their insurance products. If you have purchased a Trauma or Critical Illness policy as a standalone cover or as part of an insurance bundle, you should refer to the PDS that came with the policy.
Trauma insurance is usually purchased with other similar products such as Income Protection, Accidental Death, and/or Total & Permanent Disability. These products can all be purchased standalone or you may select two, three, or all four together. Each of them covers specific circumstances, their payouts differ from each other and do fit together to provide a great deal of protection.
Trauma insurance, as the name suggests, covers serious medical conditions and pays a lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of such a condition.
The most common trauma insurance claims are made for cancer, heart attack, coronary bypass, and stroke. However, Aspect Trauma Cover provides extensive medical cover including 11 critical illnesses, that if diagnosed have potentially significant financial implications over and above medical costs.
The 11 critical illness covered by Aspect Trauma Cover includes angioplasty, Aorta surgery, benign brain tumour, cancer, coronary artery by-pass surgery, heart surgery, heart valve replacement or repair, kidney failure, major organ transplant, multiple sclerosis, and stroke.
Trauma Insurance will normally cover those 11 critical illnesses, however, by pure nature, it doesn’t include a viral disease such as COVID-19.
There are many trauma products on the market, and they are unlikely to have Covid-19 under the list of medical events covered by the policy.
However, if you contract coronavirus and that leads to severe complications such as a heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure, among others, the trauma policy should respond.
So, to summarise, Trauma or Critical Illness insurance does not cover Covid-19 directly but it covers all the critical illnesses listed in your policy even if those ailments develop after you have been infected with the Covid-19 virus.
The inclusion of medical events covered by Trauma or critical insurance differs from one insurer to another. Refer to the PDS provided for all the medical events covered by it and if unsure, always contact your insurance provider.
Mike Wallis
Mike has over 25 years experience, having spent his first seven years working as a Broker at Jardine Lloyd Thomson in Melbourne and in 2002 was transferred to JLT’s Accident and Health Department in London. For four years (2002 – 2005) Mike was a specialist A&H Lloyd’s Broker and during this time developed excellent relationships with the Lloyd’s A&H underwriting fraternity. In 2006 he returned to Australia in a senior broking position with overall responsibility for Placement Strategy, including the implementation of underwriting facilities and the various authorities granted by Lloyd’s. Mike was the underwriter at two specialist Underwriting Agencies prior to founding Aspect Underwriting in 2016.
