The Covid-19 Coronavirus has upended life for much of the world. With all of the uncertainty surrounding the virus, and possible secondary waves of infection in the future, many people are using the current time to take stock and evaluate their exposure to the pandemic.
Since the start of the year Life Insurance has been, understandably, a sought-after form of protection. Many people are looking to ensure that their families have the financial assistance needed should a worst-case scenario be realized due to the pandemic. However, in the rush to ensure that the Coronavirus risk is being managed there is a concern that policyholders may have failed to consider the major exclusions on their life insurance plans; especially if those exclusions relate to pandemics or health emergencies.
Life Insurance Has Exclusions
One of the major aspects of life insurance which often gets overlooked is the fact that life insurance, just like all other forms of insurance, contains exclusions. In Hong Kong the most common Life Insurance exclusions include deaths which are caused by, or attributable to:
- Any breach of criminal law by the life assured or policyholder
- Participation in war or other acts of violent civil unrest
- Suicide, or the attempt of suicide within 2 years of the policy inception
While these are the most common exclusions in relation to Life Insurance in Hong Kong, this is not a full list. The exclusions present on any given life insurance policy will be entirely up to the discretion of the insurance company providing the coverage. This is important because, unbeknownst to many Life Insurance customers, one of the “at discretion” exclusions on a policy may be deaths which were caused by, or attributable to the Covid-19 Coronavirus. If a life insurance product has an exclusion that specifically names a disease, like SARS or the Covid-19 Coronavirus, then any deaths which are caused by that disease will not be claimable under the policy.
Unfortunately, it’s not just specified condition exclusions which you have to worry about – it is common for life insurance plans to also exclude deaths which were caused by or attributable to local, regional, or international health crises. The exact phrasing of this exclusion will vary on policies where it does exist; some products may exclude only deaths from pandemics situations declared by the WHO while others may exclude any health emergency where travel has been restricted on either a local or international basis.
Understand Your Life Insurance Policy
The pandemic has had people looking to protect themselves and their loved ones as comprehensively as possible against all outcomes. Unfortunately, in the rush to obtain coverage there is the concern that policyholders have purchased plans which do not fully address their needs.
If you own a life insurance policy CCW Global recommends that you review your policy terms and conditions to ensure that you have the coverage you require to ensure that your loved ones have the support they need should the worst happen.
At this time CCW Global is offering free reviews of all life insurance policies held by The HK HUB readers in order to guarantee that your coverage is able to provide you with the protection you thought you had purchased. For more information or to arrange a conversation with an expert insurance broker, please visit CCW Global.
CCW Global are Hong Kong’s trusted bespoke insurance broker, they work for their customers (not the insurance companies) and are able to provide independent and impartial advice on a complete range of insurance coverage – 100% free.