Australia's largest life insurers back COVID-19 initiative

A group of Australia's largest life insurers - AIA Australia, ClearView, MetLife, MLC Life Insurance, Resolution Life, TAL, and Zurich - have teamed up to support the COVID-19 vaccination program in the country.

The seven life insurers provide life insurance cover to more than 14 million Australians. In support of the initiative, they have created “We Have You Covered,” a joint initiative designed to reassure and give confidence to vaccinated Australians that their life insurance products will continue to protect and covered them like always.

A multi-channel media campaign co-funded by the seven life insurers will help the initiative to reach as many Australians as possible.

MetLife Australia CEO Richard Nunn explained that reassuring customers that the vaccination will not affect their ability to access their life insurance benefits helps remove a potential barrier to people getting vaccinated.

“We're proud to be part of this industry-wide initiative, and we encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated,” Nunn added.

Brett Clark, group CEO and managing director of TAL, added: “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.”

Read more: Life insurance industry showing signs of recovery – APRA

As part of the collaboration, a website (www.wehaveyoucovered.com.au) has been launched as an educational resource to help provide confidence and peace of mind to Australians, focusing on three areas:

• Receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination does not affect customers' ability to claim on existing life insurance policies.
• Receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination does not affect people's ability to access life insurance in the future.
• While serious side effects are rare, life insurance covers any serious side effects from approved COVID-19 vaccines that meet the terms and benefits provided under a customer's policy.

Justin Delaney, CEO of Zurich Australian and New Zealand, said giving customers confidence in accessing and claiming on life insurance is essential, “and never more so than when it may impact decisions something as important as the COVID-19 vaccination.”

Rodney Cook, CEO of MLC Life Insurance, said that setting the record straight is also crucial if customers have questions about the impact of COVID-19 vaccinations on their policy.

“The health and wellbeing of our customers and the community is always our primary concern,” added Damien Mu, CEO and managing director of AIA Australia and New Zealand, “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.”