Total and Permanent Disability a.k.a TPD is one of the most common conditions to make a claim for life insurance. You would typically find this term in life, personal accident, or medical insurance policies, but we will explain that a little more next time.
For now, the only thing you need to know is that Total and Permanent Disability, and the fact that it is closely related to death whenever you are thinking of buying life insurance in Malaysia.
When you buy life insurance, that means you will be able to claim for a payout if you are dead, or if you become disabled. Of course, if you’re dead, you would not be able to collect money even if it could be sent to any religion’s concept of heaven. So it usually pays to the beneficiary after the death of the policyholder.
But if you become disabled, a life insurance policy also pays out to you if you, the policyholder, in the fortunate case he or she narrowly avoids death, becomes disabled.
How Disabled?
To the extent the policyholder is unable to work or live a normal life.
But Can I Get More Specific On This?
Well, what is total and permanent disability? Start by breaking down TPD into its components. Total implies the loss of limbs, the inability to self-navigate, and the independence to lead one’s own life. Permanent implies the irreversibility of any injury or sickness that the policyholder has.
In order to make a claim, it is very important to present to the insurance company the obvious evidence of these two qualities: total and permanent.
In general, most insurance companies provide a list of requirements and exclusions when it comes to claiming a life insurance payout due to TPD.
Requirements
- The person is not able to do any work, business, occupation or profession to earn any wages, compensation or profit.
- Total loss of the sight of both eyes.
- Loss of use of two limbs above wrist or ankle.
- The person is not able to perform at least 3 activities of Daily Living without the assistance of another person, which include:
- Bathing/washing
- Dressing up
- Eating
- Moving from one room to the next
- Getting in and out of a chair
- Continence – ability to voluntarily control bladder and bowel movements
Exclusions A.k.a Reasons You Cannot Claim
These are common reasons insurance companies will not allow you to claim, and that is when total and permanent disability is caused directly or indirectly, partly or wholly, by the following circumstances:
- Any self-inflicted injuries while sane or insane
- Travel or flight in or on any type of aircraft except on a regular scheduled passenger flight of a commercial aircraft
- Any activities of a military nature whilst being engaged in military service in time of declared or undeclared war whilst under orders for warlike operations or restoration of public order
- War, civil war, invasion, act of foreign enemy, warlike actions (whether war be declared or not), including accidental explosion and/or deliberate explosion of weapons of war, during war or directly as a result of previous war
- Pre-existing illness
- Being involved in unlawful act
- Being under the influence of any alcohol, narcotic and/or drug
Takeaways
Read the fine print of what total and permanent disability is. Here are some tips to make it easy:
- Download the product disclosure sheet, take this Manulife one for example.
- Press ctrl+F, or if you’re using a Macbook, command+F
- Type ‘Exclusions’ or ‘Restrictions’
- Find the part on Total and Permanent Disability
The restrictions should look similar to Exclusions section above.
What Could You Do Now?
Insurance companies are infamous as lawyers for how complicated they make their policies sound to the layman audience. For an easier way to understand, have a look at the way we described it on our nifty website at www.policystreet.com!
If you are up for a challenge, have a look at Manulife ManuProtect Insurance’s product disclosure sheet. This is the bread and butter for any insured person to become really informed before buying an insurance policy, be it term life or medical.
Then try to decode if someone who commits suicide is able to claim for a payout. It’s a tough question.
To summarise the policy, it covers death, accidental death, total and permanent disability (TPD), and critical illnesses. And for each of the things that Manulife ManuProtect Term Life Insurance policy covers, that are different requirements to fulfill in order to claim its benefits.
Dying accidentally could payout twice of what you would normally get paid if you had died under normal circumstances. And with an optional extra, you could claim some of the payout you were entitled for even before you die for you to treat any critical illnesses you may face. This would be called a critical illness rider.
That’s enough new information for now however. If you are up for learning more about life insurance, check out our other posts on life insurance which might give you more insights.
On another note, if you are ready to make your first life insurance purchase, Manulife ManuProtect Term Life Insurance is now launched on PolicyStreet’s platform! It is a great example of what we call best-in-value, which is exactly what PolicyStreet represents.
How so? RM5 per month, RM0.15 per day for a RM50,000 insurance coverage amount, for death and total and permanent disability cover. That’s 6000% cheaper than what you expect. Keeping in mind the comparatively low salaries of freshly-minted workers like yourselves, Manulife ManuProtect allows you to maintain your current lifestyle without much adjustments. Best part is this product is available 100% online – yes you heard it, no need to go through medical check-ups and painful needles. As long as you have a valid credit or debit card, you’d be able to complete the whole transaction within minutes at the comfort of your own home.
What are you waiting for? Find out how you may be protected by Manulife ManuProtect now!