Australia’s largest life insurers – AIA Australia, ClearView, MetLife, MLC Life Insurance, Resolution Life, TAL and Zurich – have joined forces to support of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program and reassure Australians their life insurance will not be affected.
The life insurers – who provided coverage to 14 million Australians – launched ‘We Have You Covered’, to give confidence to Australians that once vaccinated their life insurance products would continue to protect and cover them as they had always done.
The initiative was launched as an educational resource to help provide confidence and peace of mind to the community, with a focus on three key areas:
- Receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination did not affect a customers’ ability to claim on existing life insurance policies;
- Receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination did not affect a person’s ability to access life insurance in the future; and
- While serious side effects were rare, life insurance covered any serious side effects from approved COVID-19 vaccines that met the terms and benefits provided under a customer’s policy.
The initiative would also be supported by a multi-channel media campaign, co-funded by the seven life insurers participating, to reach as many Australians as possible.
Damien Mu, chief executive and managing director of AIA Australia and New Zealand said: “The health and wellbeing of our customers and the community is always our primary concern, and we felt it was important and the right thing to do at this time, to play our part in removing any barriers to remaining parts of the population being vaccinated”.
Rodney Cook, CEO of MLC Life Insurance said: “Where customers have questions about the impact COVID-19 vaccinations could have on their policy, we feel now is an important time to set the record straight, particularly as we want to encourage as many Australians to get vaccinated as possible”.
Brett Clark, TAL group CEO and managing director, said: “While several Australian states are tracking towards higher vaccination levels, collectively we felt it was important to provide anyone who was unsure about the impact of being vaccinated on their life insurance cover or ability to access cover in the future, confidence that – as an industry – we have them covered”.
Justin Delaney, CEO of Zurich Australia and New Zealand said: “Customer confidence in the ability to claim on and access life insurance is paramount, and never more so than when it may impact decisions something as important as the COVID-19 vaccination”.
