Real Story of Loss & Survival
Have you ever imaged the difference an insurance benefit could make in your life? Below is a real life story of a JBS client who made the smart decision to protect themselves, and whose life has been transformed as a result.
At the time of his diagnoses, Steve*, aged 52 had just changed employment, taking on a lower paid role in a more challenging but better-suited environment. With less than $20,000 in savings, the next few years had to be carefully managed from a financial point of view.
JBS received a phone call from Steve earlier this year who advise he was looking to cancel his Trauma and Income Protection policies due to cost. We reviewed his financial position and income requirements, and determined his cash flow position justified retaining the insurance. After reiterating the need for the insurance, Steve agreed to retain the cover.
Less than a month after, Steve was diagnosed with Cancer. He stopped working immediately to begin the treatment and recovery process. Steve had full private health insurance, however was left with out-of-pocket medical expenses totalling more than $20,000 after just 3 weeks of consultation and treatment. This cost was expected to rise and with no employment income, financial stress began to set in.
JBS commenced the claim process, arranged all the required paperwork, corresponded with the insurer, and had the claim proceeds paid into Steve’s bank account within 8 days. The Trauma claim payment of $150,000 allowed Steve to fund his medical bills and ongoing living expenses which removed all financial stress, and more importantly allowed him to focus on what really mattered which was his recovery.
Steve is recovering, however yet to return to work. His Income Protection is providing him with around $10,000 per month which is sufficient to pay for his ongoing treatment, living expenses, mortgage repayments etc.
Around 4 years before his diagnosis, Steve initially met with JBS to discuss his goals & objectives, and financial planning needs. Part of the advice JBS provided included Trauma and Income Protection and fortunately Steve listened and now, looking back, says it was one of the best decisions he had ever made. Each year since that initial meeting, JBS engaged Steve to ensure he remains on track with the plan JBS set, as well as to regularly outline the important of his insurance levels.
Even this early on into his treatment and recovery Steve often thinks about what his life would have been like had he not had the financial support Trauma and Income Protection provided.
Steve’s diagnoses is not uncommon. What is uncommon is the lack of insurance cover many people here in Australia have and the challenges that poses when illness / injury occurs.
During 2016, over 100,000 people here in Australia made an insurance claim on either a Life, Permanent Disablement, Trauma, and / or Income Protection policy. Over $9 billion was paid to people like Steve.
Think about this:
– Not one of these claimants expected to claim on their insurance.
– If these claimants hadn’t received the $9 billion from their insurance policies, where else would they have got that kind of money?
– This is not a one-off statistic: over the previous 5 calendar years the total claims paid out from the leading Australian insurers totals just under $35 billion.
That’s a lot of people who didn’t ever want to claim – but had to. How glad do you think they and their dependents were, to have been wise enough to take the good advice of their adviser and plan for the unexpected?
Life isn’t always a smooth ride. Should your health take a turn for the worse, you want to ensure you’re appropriately covered so you can meet the challenge head on. Without the appropriate level of insurance, the financial stress could make your recovery a very tough hurdle to clear.
– Glenn Malkiewicz –