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What is the procedure for making a claim for Accident and Sickness?
The purpose of having an Accident and Sickness plan is to know that you will receive a monthly benefit at a time when you may need it most. Typically, this is a time when you may be unwell and the burden of ensuring that an income is still coming in to the household should be the least of your worries. Accident and Sickness insurance can ease the worries of not earning and therefore aid recovery and return to work. For those people fortunate enough to have an Accident and Sickness plan there is generally a set procedure to follow if and when they may have to make a claim.
Clearly the procedure will be delayed depending on the deferred period you took at the time of setting up your Accident and Sickness cover. Normally the most common deferred period is 30 days back to day, though there are alternatives available.
The procedure for making a claim is basically the same for either Mortgage Payment Protection or Income Protector, though the evidence required for the two is slightly different. The steps involved in making your claim are as follows:
Telephone Call
Initially you will normally have to contact the insurer’s claims line. Most insurance companies will provide a low cost or free phone number. The insurer will take some basic details and then forward a claims form on to you.
Claim Form
The claim form usually consists of three parts each part to be completed by different people;
- Part one is for completion by the claimant (you).
- Part two will need to go to the GP, specialist or consultant for confirmation of your illness or injury.
- Part three, in the case of Income Protection, is concerning your earnings and will need to be filled out by your employer. If your Accident and Sickness cover is a Mortgage Payment Protection plan then you will need to provide your mortgage details.
Evidence Needed to Back your Claim
- GP, specialist or consultant will need to certify that you are ill and provide details regarding your condition.
- Employer will need to confirm your basic salary, in the case of an Income Protector. The insurance company will not take into account any bonuses, overtime etc.
- In the case of Mortgage Payment Protection you will be required to provide evidence that your mortgage payments are paid up to date and that there has been no missed payments in the last 12 months.
Submit the Claim
- You can submit your claim anytime during your absence from work. However, administration will normally only process the claim towards the end of your deferred period. For example, for a 30 day back to day 1 plan the claim will be looked at near the 30 days and paid on day 31.
When looking at the claim process it could be surmised that in reality the initial payment is most likely not going to reach you by day 31, for a 30 day back to day 1 plan.
Developing a critical illness is something which is not in our hand. Anyone can be attacked by a harmful disease at any point of time. At such a critical stage one may have to leave his job and take the recommended rest and care of his body. At this time the person is not able to earn and feed his family and becomes a burden for them. And too add to this situation, there are pending mortgage loans and other bills that won’t spare you for being sick.
Accident sickness insurance protection covers helps you in such times. Many people understand that protecting valuable assets against any kind of damage or other possibilities is important to assist them financially in future. Mortgage life insurance protection helps the family members to pay for the mortgage after the demise of the loan holder.
The mortgage life insurance protection is a decreasing term policy and an alternative to accident and sickness insurance. It implies that the value of insurance keeps on decreasing every year as the mortgage balance reduces. The premium cost remains the same but your real cost of insurance rises. The solution is to choose the level term mortgage policy. This policy can be purchased for 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 year term. The competition among insurers and insurance companies is growing fierce and one finds it very hard to judge which policy and company would give them more benefits. In such a situation level term acts affordable. If the person dies during his later mortgage years then there will be funds left over the other expenses after clearing off the mortgage
Mortgage life insurance protection automatically makes lender as beneficiary in some cases.
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Mortgage life insurance automatically names the lender as the beneficiary in some cases. It may not be in the best financial interest of the beneficiary to have the mortgage paid off. What if, for example, the insurance proceeds could be placed in an investment which would earn more interest than what is being paid out in mortgage interest? What if there are more financially-pressing needs than paying off the mortgage? A level term policy with a designated beneficiary puts the customer in control of the death benefits and the decision of whether or not to pay off the mortgage.
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Terminal illness benefit: The terminal illness benefit includes both mortgage insurance and term life insurance which implies you should be diagnosed with terminal illness to enjoy its benefits rather than actually waiting to die. This assists in ensuring that you don’t have extra worry of meeting your mortgage installments when you are unemployed or not working due to your illness. This would also provide a support and mental happiness to your family as well.
- Critical illness cover is another option that you can add to your mortgage cover. It offers extra protection and keeps you tension free. This kind of insurance policy can also be treated as a standalone policy but generally serves much better if you add it in your main insurance cover.
Therefore, it is necessary that you research the market carefully and understand your insurance needs in advance before to buy your insurance policy.
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