Household Expenses Cover

Household Expenses Cover provides a financial safety net should you be disabled as a result of sickness or injury, and unable to meet your regular household expenses. The monthly benefit is designed to cover essential household expenses on your behalf during treatment and recovery.

This type of cover is not dependent on how much you earn, but how much your monthly expenses are each month.  This will also pay on top of any ACC Payments you may be entitled to receive.

Essential expenses

Here is a list of household expenses that can be covered are:

• Electricity
• Gas
• Water
• Phone
• Rent
• Rates
• Body Corporate Fees
• Paid Television
• Internet
• House, Contents and Motor Vehicle Insurance Premiums
• Hire Purchase, Bank Loan or other Personal Loan Repayments
• Private School Fees

If you don’t pay rent but have a mortgage on your own home, you can use the Household Expenses insurance benefit to cover the other expenses in addition to any Mortgage Repayment Cover you may have.

Your choice of waiting periods and payment terms

Household Expenses Cover provides you with the flexibility to structure your plan to most closely suit your needs. You have a choice of six waiting periods, the period of time before your monthly benefit begins after becoming disabled; either 4, 8, 13, 26, 52, or 104 weeks. You also have a choice of two cover terms, either to age 65 or 70, and six payment term options of three, six or twelve months, two or five years or to the end of the cover term. I can assist you to understand the implications of these options to enable you to make the best choice for your personal circumstances.

Specific injury

If you suffer from one of the specific injuries listed below, you will be paid the monthly benefit for a specified minimum period, irrespective of whether you return to work within that time frame. If your disability lasts longer than the specified minimum period the normal monthly benefit will continue to be payable. Minimum specified periods can be found in policy wordings which are available upon request.

• Fracture of jaw
• Fracture of skull
• Fracture of forearm
• Fracture of collarbone
• Fracture of wrist
• Fracture of upper arm
• Fracture of shoulder
• Fracture of elbow
• Fracture of vertebrae
• Fracture of kneecap
• Fracture of ankle
• Fracture of heel
• Fracture of leg below the knee (tibia or fibula)
• Fracture of the leg above the knee (femur)
• Fracture of the pelvis
• Loss of the thumb and index finger of the same hand
• Loss of a foot or hand
• Loss of sight in an eye
• Loss of a whole leg or arm
• Loss of any combination of hand, foot or sight
• Paralysis (Diplegia, Hemiplegia, Paraplegia, Quadriplegia)

Critical illness

If you suffer from one of the critical illnesses listed below, you will be paid the monthly benefit for a minimum period of six months* irrespective of whether you return to work within that time frame.  If your disability lasts longer than six months the normal monthly benefit will continue to be payable.

• Aortic Surgery
• Cancer
• Chronic Kidney Failure
• Chronic Liver Failure
• Chronic Lung Failure
• Coronary Artery Surgery
• Heart Attack
• Major Burns
• Major Head Trauma
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Stroke

*For payment terms of three months, this benefit will pay a maximum of three months

Waiver of waiting period

If you suffer a recurrence of a previous disability or a new disability within twelve months of ending a claim under the Household Expenses Cover, the chosen waiting period will be waived for the second disability. Some insurers do this to reflect the fact that you will have most likely exhausted your available sick leave and annual leave entitlements during the previous waiting period.

Retraining and rehabilitation

If you are receiving a claim under the Household Expenses Cover, the insurer may pay up to twenty-four times the monthly benefit to reimburse costs associated with retraining and/or rehabilitation programmes that might assist you to return to work. This benefit is not available for payment terms less than two years.

Return to work rewards

If you are receiving a total disability benefit and manage to return to work on a part-time basis as part of your recovery, the insurer may boost your partial disability payments by 25% for up to 12 months. If you return to work full-time after receiving a benefit under the Retraining and Rehabilitation benefit you will receive additional bonus payments once you have been back at work for three and then six months.

When you are confined to bed

If as a result of a disability you are admitted to hospital or are confined to bed at home under medical orders for more than three nights, your Household Expenses Cover benefits will start from your first day of confinement to a hospital or home, rather than at the end of the waiting period.

Emergency transport costs

Your Household Expenses Cover will reimburse you for the costs of any emergency transport you require as a result of your disability (up to certain limits).

Death benefit

A lump sum payment of three times the monthly sum insured is payable to assist with funeral expenses should a life assured die whilst covered under the Household Expenses Cover.

The above benefits are summary examples only and may not be a full list of benefits which may be available to you.  The exact types of cover and benefits will change depending on the insurer and the specific policy. Please contact us for a comprehensive list of benefits available.

Household Expenses Insurance

This is a fairly new product to the New Zealand insurance market and is not to be confused with Income Protection Insurance.  This product is designed more to pay your household expenses so, in the event that the insured person cannot work due to sickness or accident, the insurer will be for your household expenses which you have insured for.

For free advice and quotes from some of the best insurers in New Zealand for your household expenses insurance, please contact us.