aviva - update on saf group term life insurance

earlier this week, i received a query on aviva's saf group term life insurance scheme and therefore, today's blog is an update of this extremly saleable plan.

what is aviva's saf group term life insurance scheme?

this is a yearly renewable group insurance plan which is open to the following:

a. saf regulars and full time national servicemen
b. defence executive officers
c. public officers posted to work in mindef
d. saf operational ready national servicemen
e. dsta staff working in saf unit or mindef dept
f. military domain expert personnel and saf volunteer

and eligible dependents:

a. spouse and children (at least age 14 days old) of the above
insured employees

entry age:

you and your spouse must take up this cover before age 55
children from age 14 days old
term of coverage: up to age 70 for you and your spouse
: for a male child, the coverage will cease at age 20
: for a female child, the coverage will cease at age 25
or when she marries, whichever is earlier.
key features:

a. you can take up sum assured in multiples of $10,000 up to a maximum of
$600,000*. you can also increase coverage before age 55
*available from october 01, 2009 onwards
b. spouse and children can also enjoy the same coverage
c. automatic renewal of $600,000 coverage up to age 65; thereafter a $100,000
coverage from age 66 to age 70 subject to prevailing rates, terms and
conditions
d. receive advance payment benefit of 50% of the sum assured, subject to a
maximum of $100,000 if an insured person is diagnosed that is highly
probable that he/she would pass away within the next 12 months
e. receive extra death benefit of up to 100% more* if death is directly due
to saf occupational activities or training, including such incidents
during ops ready in-camp training
f. receive daily hospital cash benefit
g. enjoy partial cash rebate of premium during good years
h. your spouse can continue to be insured if you were to pass away prematurely
i. coverage includes event of war (including un peacekeeping/humanitarian
missions and acts of terrorism) subject to the prevailing group risk
limitations
j. optional supplementary major illness insurance. you, your spouse and
children if already insured with term life cover, can opt to sign up for
the for the critical or major illness insurance up to $300,000.


my comments:

the saf group term life insurance scheme and major illness cover come with some of the following significant pointers:

a. it is a yearly renewable group insurance plan but does not come with
guaranteed renewal
b. maximum coverage of $100,000 from age 66 to 70
c. subject to underwriting, the maximum sum assured of the supplementary major
illness insurance must not exceed the sum assured of the saf group term
life insurance
d. upon diagnosis of any one of the 30 major illnesses, the insured person
must survive for 30 days before a claim can be admitted
e. the insurance cover of the dependent spouse of an insured person under this
policy will be terminated if he/she is divorced from that insured person or
f. the basic cover, i.e. saf group term life insurance has been terminated
g. there is an exclusion for death due to suicide for insurance coverage from
age 66 to age 70
h. in the event of claims arising from any number of insured persons in a single
conveyance, aviva's maximum aggregate liability shall be limited to
$10,000,000 for each land conveyance, $18,000,000 for each sea conveyance,
and $20,000,000 for each air conveyance. if the claims are a result of acts
of terrorism and/or war risk; such claims shall be further subject to the
limits of these special coverage
i. in the event of claims arising from any number of insured persons as results
of acts of terrorism, aviva's maximum liability shall be limited to 0.5% of
the aggregate insured sum of the whole group policy.
j. in the event of war (including un peacekeeping/humanitarian missions and acts
of terrorism arising thereof), resulting in claims from any number of insured
persons, aviva's maximum liability shall be limited to 0.25% of the aggregate
insured sum of the whole group policy.

one other significant caveat, The Nomination of Beneficiaries framework is not applicable for group insurance scheme. The main policyholder, that is, SAF/MINDEF, had directed Aviva to pay according to the prevailing laws of Singapore. That is to say, in the event of a Death Claim, the law provides for Aviva to pay to the immediate next-of-kin (NOK) or proper claimant up to S$150,000. The payout of the balance of the insurance compensation has to be decided by a Court.

If the deceased had written a Will before his/her death, the family has to engage a lawyer to apply to the Court for a Probate, which may take up to 6 months.

If the deceased did not have a Will before his/her death, he/she would be considered to have died intestate. In such an event the family also has to engage a lawyer to apply to the Court for a Letter of Administration, which may take up to 3 years to resolve.


and last but not least, this is the mother of all the terms and conditions which states:

future plan changes:

this scheme will be reviewed periodically and may be subject to change as
part of the SAF' policy of continuosuly reviewing the benefit for its
members. while it is the sincere intention of the SAF to continue providing
the aforementioned benefits, the SAF reserve the right to MODIFY,
AMEND, SUSPEND OR DISCONTINUE any or all of the provisions of this scheme
at its absolute discretion.