Visa holders get insured
AXA Australia will be the first insurance company in Australia to offer income protection insurance to 457 skilled temporary visa holders.
AXA head of individual life insurance Stephen Rosengren said the initiative was part of a new market offer designed to capture the unexplored market.
“There are now more than 83,000 skilled temporary visa holders in Australia and the intake keeps growing every year, which is a reflection of global migration trends. Our intake in Australia has increased from 18,000 in 2001-02 to more than 39,000 in 2005-06,” he said.
“Until now, there was no standard offer available to this category of migrant, so each insurance application had to be considered on a case-by-case basis. We are pleased we are able to find this solution and be the first insurance company in Australia to offer income protection to this growing proportion of our population.”
According to Rosengren, the offer was intended to be long term and allows the visa holder to continue their insurance cover even after they’ve taken up permanent residency.
Rosengren said there would be 20 improvements made to the insurance offer being launched.
“This is a comprehensive update of our products, which is aligned with our strategy of regaining our leading position in financial protection,” he said.
“One of the easiest traps to fall into when looking at life insurance is opting to take a stepped premium because it is cheaper in the first instance. We often hear of clients on stepped premiums cancelling cover at older ages because the cost increases each year.”
One of these changes includes improvements to insurance cover on what is now the most common cancer in men, prostate cancer.
“Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. Each year in Australia, close to 3,000 men die of prostate cancer, equal to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually. Around 18,700 new cases are diagnosed in Australia every year.”
“As more Australian men are being affected by this type of cancer, they can rest assured they will be covered from the outset. We are now paying a full benefit for low level prostate cancer,” Rosengren said.
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