Disability protection that can give you a new lease on life

It can be difficult to imagine just how great an impact on your life the development of a disability can have. Suddenly, you or a loved one may need to adapt to a new lifestyle. Your needs change and this may come at an additional cost to you financially. Generally speaking, these additional costs are beyond most people’s current budgets and means.

Protective risk cover, like that of Discovery Life’s Capital Disability Benefit, offers financial security with a lump-sum payout for unforeseen events that can result in a life-altering disability.

The Capital Disability Benefit is broken down into categories (A, B, C, D) as a way of assessing the severity and nature of a disability that a client has experienced.

Enhancing the benefit with innovative features

“Discovery’s LifeTime Capital Disability Benefit is a world first in assisting disabled clients with regaining part of the lifestyle they had before the event that changed the course of their lives,” says Head of Technical Marketing at Discovery Life Andrew Mc Currie.

“This benefit has been designed to go beyond the clinical severity of a disability. A key consideration is that while a person’s lifestyle and level of independence is directly impacted by a disability, medical devices and technology often exist that can help to minimise this impact,” adds Mc Currie.

“The problem for most clients is that this technology requires significant upfront costs as well as ongoing expenses to maintain, service or upgrade them.” He points out that an artificial leg can cost upwards of R1 million if you want to regain as much mobility as possible. “This cost is not normally allowed for as part of a client’s disability insured amount and is difficult to allow for in traditional insurance products”, Mc Currie adds.

“This is why our own research teams delved a little deeper to find clinical and technologically backed solutions that could assist in meeting this need, and in so doing develop a product that is unique in the market. To help cover initial costs, this benefit pays out an upfront amount. Thereafter, there are ongoing payouts which can be used to help minimise the cost impact of additional needs. This is made available through the MedTech Booster Benefit.”

“Through the LifeTime Capital Disability benefit, this allows clients to receive up to 300% of their insured amount in total based on the option they select,” Mc Currie explains further.

Other innovative features and advantages include:

• Absolute claim certainty through an automatic payout upgrade for Category B disabilities. With this upgrade, a person can receive a 100% payout instead of 50%
• Automatic child impairment benefit, which provides a payout of up to 10% of the insured amount if a policyholder’s child becomes disabled
• Unique to Discovery Life, Category C claims ensure a payout of 2.5% of the insured amount at the end of each four-month period if a person loses 80% or more of their income due to their permanent disability. This way, policyholders are protected against financial losses if their disability impacts their ability to work while their disability category is being assessed or established
• As life expectancies increase with populations living longer lives, cover is extended up to the age of 70
• Once a client reaches their retirement age, their Capital Disability Benefit is automatically converted to Severe Illness Benefit cover (Severity A and B health conditions). This will offer dynamic protection for the remainder of a person’s life