AIA Australia rolls out TPD CORE

AIA Australia has launched TPD CORE, a new retail product that charges lower premiums and provides clearer claim assessment criteria for total and permanent disability (TPD).

Some of TPD CORE's key features include a five-year rate guarantee, a lump sum benefit payment, and the availability of own occupation or any occupation cover.

Where it differs from traditional TPD is the additional assessment criteria required for mental health conditions and specified subjective conditions such as those associated with a client's experience of pain and fatigue symptoms.

AIA said these requirements are designed to provide greater transparency, consistency and confidence at claim time.

TPD CORE officially launched for retail customers on August 31. It is designed to work alongside income protection cover, as well as wellbeing and recovery support through AIA Embrace.

AIA said TPD CORE was developed for a "different era," particularly against a backdrop of increasing mental health-related claims, highlighting the fact that such conditions now account for around one-third of TPD claims paid across the industry. More than $2 billion have been made in annual payouts - almost double the level of five years ago.

AIA Australia chief executive and managing director Damien Mu commented Australia's worsening mental health crisis required insurers to think differently about their product set and how they can best support people.

"We need to rethink how we view mental health conditions, because a diagnosis is not a life sentence. We want to focus on supporting people to live and work while effectively managing their mental health, which includes encouraging early intervention, as well as recovery and return-to-work where this is possible for someone.

"TPD CORE plays an important role in our overall approach to playing a more active role in the mental health of our customers, so that we can ensure that claimants with severe, permanent and work-ending conditions are paid a lump sum, and less severe, episodic mental health issues receive other types of support," said Mu.