Critical Illness Insurance

Protecting you if you become critically ill or injured.

TAL CoverBuilder

Get a quick quote online in less than 5 minutes

Premium type/entry age

Stepped premiums: 16 – 62 (age next birthday)
Level premiums: 16 – 60 (age next birthday)

What is Critical Illness (Trauma) Insurance?

Critical Illness Insurance gives you financial freedom if you become critically ill or injured and require extensive medical treatment to recover your health.

A lump sum payment from your Critical Illness Insurance policy gives you the financial security in the worst of times.

It allows you the financial freedom to access the best medical treatment available, pay for your rehabilitation, and cut back on your work hours to concentrate on your recovery.

What are the key features?

Maximum benefit amount of up to $2 million across all insurers
Critical Illness Premier, including Advancement Benefit and Female Specific Critical Illness Benefit
Eligible for Health Sense discount
Built-in Paralysis Support Benefit
Lump Sum Payment if you are diagnosed with a covered illness or injury of specified severity
Bundle with your Life Insurance for lower premiums

Flexibility, innovation, great value

How our award-winning life insurance product works for you:

Designed for flexibility

Mix and match a range of products and features to best suit your needs

Simple rewards if you're healthy

Clever features like our popular TAL Health Sense discount

We’re there when it matters

Every working day we pay an average of $5.3m in claims

What other benefits does Critical Illness Include:

Not all benefits, options and sum insured levels are available online.

Critical Illness Benefit

Critical Illness Benefit A benefit is payable if you suffer a Critical Illness Event. You must also meet the requirements as defined in the Critical Illness Event definition in Section 9.3 of the Product Disclosure Statement.

Paralysis Support Benefit

The Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount will be doubled (up to $2 million) if you become permanently paralysed.

Death Buy-Back Benefit (only available if Critical Illness Insurance is Attached or Linked to Life Insurance)

If 100% of the Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount is paid, you can repurchase Life Insurance in 12 months’ time, up to the Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount paid. The request must be made in writing within the specified timeframe.

Advancement Benefit

Pays a portion of the Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount for Advancement Benefit Events. Payment of this benefit will reduce the Benefit Amount by the amount paid.

Female Critical Illness Benefit

Pays 20% of the Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount, up to $50,000, for conditions such as Pregnancy Complications and Congenital Abnormalities. Payment of this benefit will reduce the Benefit Amount by the amount paid. This benefit only applies if the Life Insured is a female.

Needlestick Benefit

Pays up to $1 million if you suffer Occupationally Acquired HIV or Occupationally Acquired Hepatitis B or C. This benefit only applies if your occupation class is AA+ as specified in the Policy Schedule.

Inflation Protection Benefit

Automatically increases the Benefit Amount on the Policy anniversary by the greater of 5% and the Inflation Factor to help keep pace with inflation. Increased cover affects your premium, so you have the option to remove this benefit.

Premium Freeze Benefit

Your premiums stay the same and the Benefit Amount will reduce at each Policy anniversary. This benefit can only be exercised if stepped premiums have been selected and you are at least 30 years of age.

Financial Planning Benefit

Reimburses up to $5,000 on fees for professional financial planning advice incurred when we pay 100% of the Benefit Amount. Your financial plan must be prepared by a financial adviser within 12 months of the date we paid your claim and we must receive evidence of the financial plan.

Long Distance Accommodation Benefit

Reimburses up to $250 per day, up to 14 days, for accommodation costs of an Immediate Family Member when they are required to travel more than 100 km to be with you. To be eligible, you must be Bed Confined more than 100 kilometres from your usual place of residence and the Terminal Illness Benefit, 100% of the TPD Insurance Benefit Amount or 100% of the Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount has been paid.

Critical Illness Benefit

Paralysis Support Benefit

The Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount will be doubled (up to $2 million) if you become permanently paralysed.

Death Buy-Back Benefit

Death Buy-Back Benefit (only available if Critical Illness Insurance is Attached or Linked to Life Insurance)

Advancement Benefit

Pays a portion of the Critical Illness Insurance Benefit Amount for Advancement Benefit Events. Payment of this benefit will reduce the Benefit Amount by the amount paid.

Female Critical Illness Benefit

Needlestick Benefit

Inflation Protection Benefit

Premium Freeze Benefit

Financial Planning Benefit

Long Distance Accommodation Benefit

How much will it cost?

At TAL, we understand that everyone is unique, so naturally your insurance should be too. That's why we've created TAL CoverBuilder to allow you to build your cover, your way.

With Coverbuilder you can choose your insurance and your cover, tailor your cover amount and select the options that best suit you.

Get started with TAL CoverBuilder

GET A QUOTE

Recovery Insurance claims by gender and age

Learn more

Claims statistics based on total number of Total and Permanent Disability Insurance claims paid by gender and age by TAL Life Limited and Asteron Life & Superannuation Limited between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020. Age of claimant based on age at the date of event.

What important details do I need to know?

What's not covered?

No benefits will be paid under Critical Illness Insurance unless you suffer a specified serious event listed under Critical Illness Insurance as defined in Section 9.3 in the PDS. This means that the requisite level of Severity as set out for the event in Section 9.3 must be met in order for a benefit to be payable.
No benefits under Critical Illness Insurance will be paid if the specified serious event resulted from an intentional, self-inflicted act (refer to Section 2.3.4 in the PDS).
A claim for some Critical Illness Events (e.g. Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke) will not be paid if the condition or the symptom of the condition occurred during the first three months from when the Plan started, cover was increased, or cover was reinstated (refer to Section 2.3.4 in the PDS).
A claim resulting from a special condition. If applicable, the special condition will be shown in the Policy Schedule.

What is underwriting?

Underwriting is a term used to describe the process of assessing insurance risk prior to issuing a policy. It usually takes the form of questions about your occupation, medical history and activities you enjoy doing. Underwriting is designed to ensure the premiums and cover terms for your insurance plan are appropriate for your own medical situation, lifestyle and occupation, and for the insurer to assess if insurance can be provided to you and if so on what terms.

Loadings and exclusions:

In some cases we will be unable to provide you with all or some parts of the Cover for which you have applied.

In other cases, Cover may be subject to conditions such as a Premium Loading, or an Exclusion.

A Premium Loading will mean that you pay a higher premium for the Cover.

An Exclusion will mean that you will not be Covered if you suffer a specified excluded medical condition, or you are injured or die as a result of participating in an excluded pastime or activity.

No payment will be made if a claim arises directly or indirectly because of any one of the Critical Illness Events listed in the table below if the condition occurred or was diagnosed, or the signs or symptoms leading to the diagnosis became apparent to the Life Insured or would have become apparent to a reasonable person in the position of the Life Insured:

within three months after the Plan start date;
within three months after the date of an approved applied-for increase, but only in respect of the increase portion; or
within three months after the most recent date we agreed to reinstate the Plan or Policy. Critical Illness Events where qualifying period.

Before you apply...

What's not covered?

No benefits will be paid under Critical Illness Insurance unless you suffer a specified serious event listed under Critical Illness Insurance as defined in Section 9.3 in the PDS. This means that the requisite level of Severity as set out for the event in Section 9.3 must be met in order for a benefit to be payable.
No benefits under Critical Illness Insurance will be paid if the specified serious event resulted from an intentional, self-inflicted act (refer to Section 2.3.4 in the PDS).
A claim for some Critical Illness Events (e.g. Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke) will not be paid if the condition or the symptom of the condition occurred during the first three months from when the Plan started, cover was increased, or cover was reinstated (refer to Section 2.3.4 in the PDS).
A claim resulting from a special condition. If applicable, the special condition will be shown in the Policy Schedule.

During your application...

What is underwriting?

Loadings and exclusions:

In some cases we will be unable to provide you with all or some parts of the Cover for which you have applied.

In other cases, Cover may be subject to conditions such as a Premium Loading, or an Exclusion.

A Premium Loading will mean that you pay a higher premium for the Cover.

An Exclusion will mean that you will not be Covered if you suffer a specified excluded medical condition, or you are injured or die as a result of participating in an excluded pastime or activity.

After purchasing Recovery Insurance...

within three months after the Plan start date;
within three months after the date of an approved applied-for increase, but only in respect of the increase portion; or
within three months after the most recent date we agreed to reinstate the Plan or Policy. Critical Illness Events where qualifying period.

Claims at TAL

Every claim we pay is a promise kept

In 2020, we paid $2.7 billion in claims to 36,901 customers and their families. That’s equivalent to over $45 million a week.

People often think claims are all about payments to families when a loved one passes away. And of course, that's part of what we do. But 68% of all the claims we paid last year were to help customers keep living the lives they love, after an accident or illness.

Learn More

Your guide to making a claim

When things go wrong with your health, or the health of a loved one, you may find yourself doing many things for the first time. It’s sometimes tricky to know where to start and it can feel overwhelming. We’re here to support you to make your claim as easy as possible.

If you need to make a claim with TAL, you’ll be assigned a dedicated claims consultant. They’re there to understand your situation and what they can do to support you when making a claim.

Learn More

Why choose TAL as your Recovery Insurance provider?

TAL is a leading Life Insurance specialist

Trusted by 4.5 million Australians

$2.7 billion in claims paid in 2020

What other insurance can I include in my TAL life insurance plan?

Find out more