With so much happening in the world, it’s understandable that you’d be interested in having some extra forms of protection, especially in regards to your health and finances. The coronavirus pandemic is rocking the markets and many unemployed individuals’ lives, making the thought of income protection much more appealing. But what exactly is income protection insurance and how does it help you? Read on to learn more about how insurers can help protect you and how you can save on your insurance company’s plans.
What does income protection insurance cover?
In its essence, income protection is about as simple as it sounds. This type of insurance plan can give you a monthly payment in an instance where you lose your primary source of income due to illness or a serious injury or permanent disability. Normally, these sorts of problems will create a financial dilemma for you; however, with income protection, you can stay up to date on your bills and rent or mortgage.
Like many kinds of life insurance products, before you can qualify for income protection, you’ll need to be patient during your policy’s waiting period. Sometimes you’ll only need to wait a few weeks; however, other policies may have you serve a waiting period of two or three months first before you can qualify for income protection. After you’ve proven that you qualify for income protection, you’ll be able to use your monthly payments to help cover groceries, debts, and rent or other bills.
What is the value of income protection insurance?
While income protection can help cover some of your previous income, it won’t cover the full amount. Different premiums cover different portions of your income, but the most that can be covered is 85 percent of your monthly take-home pay. This can be particularly valuable if you have a prolonged sickness, partial disablement, or permanent disability. Income protection is valuable if you don’t have a lot of savings for an emergency and rely on your income for your mortgage or rental payments and other necessities like utilities. After all, if you lose your income, it can be incredibly hard to make ends meet while you’re working to find a new job or are unable to work due to sickness or injury.
That being said, there are some criteria that won’t make you eligible for income protection. For example, if your illness lasts less than your policy’s waiting period or you have a pre-existing condition, that won’t be covered by income protection insurance. You also can’t use an income protection policy in order to cover a loss in income because of a regular pregnancy or if you choose to resign and aren’t fired.
Comparing income protection insurance with iSelect makes the whole process of finding the right income protection plan for you simple, easy, and effective. While it’s true that you could do this sort of research on your own by heading to your favorite search engine and looking up “income protection insurance Australia,” that can be a tedious process with multiple tabs up and a lot of overwhelming information. Especially when you consider how sales-oriented many insurance company’s websites are, it’s much better to source your information on the pros and cons of each income protection insurer from a reliable source like iSelect.
iSelect makes it simple to learn about insurers by putting in your zip code in order to see what premiums look like for providers in your locality. After inputting your postal code, you’ll answer a few questions about what you’re looking for from your insurance policy to make sure that as you’re saving money you won’t be sacrificing quality in your insurance perks.