Own the extras: The lesser-known benefits inside insurance policies

life insurance
Written By Jam Villasanta

When people hear “insurance benefits”, most immediately think of the basics: how much they are covered for, how long they are covered for, and what happens at claim time. But modern policies come with a whole list of lesser-known insurance benefits that sound impressive, complicated, or downright confusing.

This is where the advice side really matters.

Some features are genuinely clever.

Some are only useful in very specific situations.

Some are great on paper but might not suit your personal circumstances at all.

“Not everything that looks fancy on the brochure is something every client needs. It has to make sense for your life and your budget.”
— Matthew Warren, Skye Financial Adviser

Let us break down the add-ons that stood out most in the Deep Dive.

1. When traditional trauma is not an option

Trauma cover can be tricky to obtain if you have some more severe pre-existing health events. AIA created a solution for people who cannot access the full comprehensive trauma cover.

Normally, if your trauma cover is declined or highly restricted, you get exclusions with no discount or you get a complete decline. AIA’s Trauma Plus options step in to give clients something instead of nothing.

Two versions exist:

  • Cancer Plus excludes coronary events

  • Coronary Plus excludes cancer events

This means someone with a significant family history of heart conditions might still secure cancer-related trauma cover, and someone with a history of cancer can still keep heart and neurological trauma benefits.

This flexibility matters because trauma remains one of Australia’s most claimed upon benefits, particularly for cancer and cardiac events. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, cancer remains the leading cause of disease burden in the country (AIHW, 2024).

“It is better to have a partial trauma option than no trauma at all. These modular covers are designed for situations where the alternative would be a straight decline.”
— Phil Thompson, Skye Wealth Adviser

2. Multiple reinstatements: Trauma cover up to six times

This is a big one.

Insurers may allow up to six reinstatements of trauma cover across six completely unrelated categories.

This includes:

  • cancer

  • heart conditions

  • neurological illnesses

  • digestive and vital organ diseases

  • disability or accidental incidents

Each category is separate.

Once you make a claim, you cannot claim again in that category, but you can claim in others.

The likelihood of using all six is extremely low, but the feature exists for people who want maximum long-term trauma resilience.

3. Accident Only Cover: The backup option for complex health

For some clients, health history makes it difficult to obtain full Income Protection or TPD. Traditional underwriting uses a “three strikes” tolerance: once you have too many exclusions or a combination of high loadings, insurers may withdraw the offer entirely.

Accident Only option exists for those with more complex medical backgrounds.

The requirement is simple:

You must be disabled due to a physical injury from an accident. Illnesses are not covered.

This is not for everyone, but for someone who cannot access full cover due to medical history, it can be a meaningful fallback.

4. Career Break Benefit: Designed for parenthood and life changes

This feature is one of the most practical and client-friendly:

  • Pause your cover for up to five years, or

  • Maintain full cover for up to one year, and your occupation is still assessed as if you were in your prior job

This protects parents and people taking planned breaks from being penalised by temporary changes in income or employment status.

Most insurers only offer a simple pause.

According to ABS workforce statistics, nearly one in three Australian women takes extended time out of the workforce between ages 25 and 40, primarily due to caring responsibilities (ABS, 2024). This feature directly supports that reality.

5. Female critical illness benefits: women-focused add-on

This benefit recognises that women face unique health events that traditional trauma cover does not always address well.

This add-on pays up to 20 percent of the benefit, capped at $50,000, for events like:

  • eclampsia

  • severe pregnancy complications

  • stillbirth

  • congenital conditions in newborns

  • lupus

  • severe osteoporosis

This is not a replacement for trauma cover, but a specialised additional buffer during rare but high-impact female-specific events.

6. Severity-based TPD: New middle ground

Due to rising claim volumes, insurers are experimenting with alternatives to standard TPD definitions. Severity-based TPD sits between the restrictive Activities of Daily Living (ADL) definition and the broad Any Occupation rules.

A claim under this structure can be paid if a person has:

  • 30 percent or more Whole Person Impairment

  • or a psychiatric impairment rating over 30 percent

  • and is unable to work in any suitable occupation

This offers a more measurable and objective assessment, not reliant on ADLs alone.

This version is often cheaper than any or own occupation TPD, which makes it appealing as a supplementary TPD option.

7. Forward Underwriting: Pre-approved future cover

Forward underwriting is one of the smartest benefits most people have never heard of.

You get assessed for a higher total insurance amount today, even though you are not purchasing all of it yet.

If you want to increase your cover in the future, the insurer uses today’s health assessment, not your future one.

Why this matters:

If your health worsens later, you can still increase your cover as if nothing changed.

Life events like:

  • a mortgage

  • having a child

  • starting a business

trigger the increase.

So why do we not recommend all these benefits to everyone?

Three simple reasons:

1. Each benefit belongs to a different insurer

  • You cannot stack all of them into one policy.

2. Some are nice to have, not must-haves

  • Most clients do not need six trauma reinstatements or two specialised modular trauma covers.

3. We cannot predict the future

  • Some benefits come with cost trade-offs.

We weigh the likelihood of you ever using the feature against the extra premium.

As Matt said:

“Just because a feature exists does not mean it is a priority. The right cover is about fit, not flash.”
— Matthew

Key takeaway

The lesser-known insurance benefits can be powerful, but they are not automatically useful for everyone. What matters is matching the right features to the right person, at the right time, for the right reason.

So, if there are features that you think are non-negotiable, make sure to let your adviser know. Even if you’re not sure if it exists, they’re happy to answer any questions you ask.

Resources

Jam Villasanta
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Why your TPD definition matters more than you think