Home / - Total and Permanent Disability
When a Critical Illness Cover or Life Insurance (Assurance) with Critical Illness Cover plan is arranged, this will usually include Total Permanent Disability cover also.
When the life office pays a claim for Total Permanent Disability will depend on the ‘definition of disability’ on the plan.
The life office will decide which definition applies when the plan is underwritten at outset. The definition of disability the life assured receives will depend on the applicant’s health, whether they are working and if so, their occupation.
Examples of the definitions that can apply are:
Own occupation
This means that the life office will pay out the cover if an illness or injury permanently prevents the life assured from doing the essential duties of their occupation.
Working tasks
Sometimes life offices cannot give the applicant an own occupation definition. This might be because of the type of work that they do or because they are not working. The life office may then offer a definition which will pay out depending on whether the applicant is able to carry out specific work-related tasks. If this definition applies then the life office will pay out the cover if an illness or injury permanently prevents the applicant from performing a number of tasks, for example:
Walking
The ability to walk 200 metres on a level surface with a stick or other aid without stopping or severe discomfort.
Lifting
The ability to pick up 1kg from table height and carry it for five metres.
Using a pen/pencil/keyboard
The ability to use a pen, pencil or keyboard with either hand or using any aids.
Hearing
The ability to hear well enough to understand someone speaking a common language in a normal voice in a quiet room with a hearing aid.
Speech
The ability to be understood in a common language in a quiet room.
Vision
The ability to see well enough to read 16 point print using spectacles or other aids.
Living tasks (or Activities of Daily Living)
If the life assured is over age 65 when a claim is made, the life office may apply a definition called ‘living tasks’. The life office could then meet the claim if an illness or injury permanently prevents the life assured from performing a number of tasks, for example:
Washing
The ability to wash in the bath or shower (including getting into and out of the bath and shower) such that an adequate level of personal hygiene can be maintained.
Dressing
The ability to put on, take off, secure and unfasten all necessary garments and any medically necessary braces, artificial limbs or other surgical appliances.
Transferring
The ability to move from a bed to an upright chair, or wheelchair and vice versa, and to get on or off a toilet or commode.
Mobility
The ability to move from one room to another on a level surface.
Continence
The ability to manage bowel and bladder functions such that an adequate level of personal hygiene can be maintained.
Feeding
The ability to feed oneself once food and drink have been prepared and made available. In some circumstances, the life office may not be able to offer Total Permanent Disability cover. This will be confirmed during underwriting.
03 January 2008 14:07:52
People who suffer with restless leg syndrome (RLS) are twice as likely to experience a stroke or heart attack, according to new research.
Harvard Medical School scientists also concluded that those with the most frequent and severe RLS symptoms were most at risk of heart disease.
Study author John W Winkelman remarked: "The association of RLS with heart disease and stroke was strongest in those people who had RLS symptoms at least 16 times per month."
As the largest of its kind to be undertaken, the work involved nearly 3,500 patients, with seven per cent of women and three per cent of men suffering from RLS.
Commenting on the study's findings, Mr Winkelman suggested that RLS is linked to substantial increases in blood pressure and heart rate which, over the long term, could develop into cardiovascular disease.
However he admitted that the study had its limitations, as diagnosis of RLS in patients was self-reported by questionnaire rather than clinical interview.
It comes on the heels of last month's research by German scientists, which found that transplanting genetically engineered cells into heart attack victims could help reduce the risk of sudden death following the event.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
15 July 2008 17:36:50
Pregnant women thinking about their children's life insurance policies should be aware that those who eat nuts every day could raise the risk of their child developing asthma by as much as 50 per cent.
Researchers published their findings in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and found that those who ate nuts occasionally were not putting their child at risk.
Saskia Willers, an epidemiologist at Utrecht University, who led the study linking nuts with asthma explained the importance of doing further research.
She said: "We were the first to find these strong effects on asthma symptoms, but until we are certain we don't want to restrict them from the diet. So it is important that other studies replicate the findings."
Those that ate products containing nuts, such as peanut butter, were also found to be increasing their child's risk of developing asthma.
Asthma is an inflammatory disease that causes wheezing, coughing and laboured breathing in sufferers. It can be a life threatening condition.
UK life insurance policies may require policy holders to declare if they suffered from asthma.
29 June 2007 09:53:59
The July 1st ban on smoking in public places could have a massive effect on life insurance premiums, according to one health charity.
Action on Smoking and Health UK (ASH) has estimated that around 750,000 people in the UK will give up smoking after the ban, with the quitters set to benefit from not just an improvement to their health, but a reduction in their life cover costs.
However, Martin Dockrell, policy and campaigns manager at ASH, said he understood why so many smokers - 40 per cent of whom intend to give up after the ban - found it so hard to kick the habit.
"Anyone who's been a smoker and tried to quit will tell you one of the most difficult things is going to meet your friends for a drink. It's ok for the first drink, but after the second drink and whenever they get the fags out…and everyone's smoking, it's much, much harder to say no."
"So what we expect is that it will be a lot easier to quit…The whole idea of' Smoke-free' is encouraging smokers who've wanted to quit for years to have another good old bash at it."
He added: "It's going to be a huge impact; of huge benefit. People start benefiting almost immediately…your circulation begins to improve, your lung capacity begins to improve, and gradually your risk of lung cancer begins to fall."
Not only does quitting smoking reduce the risk of lung cancer and other cardiovascular diseases, it'll save you money too, both in reducing your weekly outlay and through cutting the cost of your life insurance.
