self employed small business income protection for people taking PrEP self employed small business income protection for people taking PrEP self employed small business income protection for people taking PrEP self employed small business income protection for people taking PrEP self employed small business income protection for people taking PrEP income protection for people taking PrEP life-insurance small business income protection crisis insurance services total and permanent disability Most Common FAQ faq about hiv faq about PrEP faq about diabetes services

During a life insurance application, will you ask me if I'm Bisexual?

Are you living with a hidden complex health condition?

It's time for a fresh look at living with a multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis and getting your life insurance and income protection sorted.

MS affects approximately 2,5 million people worldwide, but when you live with multiple sclerosis (MS), it may already feel tough to relate to people who don’t have the condition. As people with an often hidden condition, they face challenges because of their disability but if they're also identifying as LGBTQIA+ the 'double whammy' of feeling like a “minority within a minority” can feel like more discrimination.

What's the difference between Life Insurance and Life Insurance products?

How do I get in contact with unusualrisks.com.au?

How do I prepare for an insurance application with unusualrisks.com.au?

How does a person's weight affect a life insurance application?

A person’s weight is an important factor in a life insurance assessment. A Life Insurance company will use a Body Mass Index (‘BMI’) as a key measurement of general good health in insurance underwriting.

• Simply put, an overweight person usually pays higher insurance premiums than a person at a healthy weight, and an obese person will have higher premiums than an overweight person.
• Usually a BMI of up to 35 is considered typical. Once a person’s BMI reaches 39 or more, a medical exam will be required together with an MBA20 and HbA1c blood test.

BMI is less of a health issue at older ages whereas the same elevated BMI level may be more concerning at a younger age.

Life Insurance is a complex area with no second chance to fix a mistake

Once you have a Life Insurance policy in force, it can't be taken away from you. But of course, there's the problem of getting one in the first place...

Life Insurance is an 'underwritten financial product'. This means that levels of risk are often measured by insurance underwriters in 'likelihoods' and '% of chance'. Until recently, for HIV research, insurance underwriters had limited data to make predictions from so they simply refused to offer Life Insurance in circumstances where people were diagnosed with HIV.

Why you need a specialist adviser from Unusualrisks.com.au

When you have a pre-existing medical condition, getting high-quality Life Insurance requires the expertise of a specialty Risk Insurance Adviser because of 4 key reasons;

• The different medical underwriting requirements are complex
• The assessment criteria change constantly 
• Not all insurance providers are able to work with pre-existing medical conditions (but they don't tell you that up front so the resulting formal 'application declined' goes on your permanent record)
• We specialise in navigating through this complex area

4 Incredibly important things you need to know about life insurance

Here are 4 significant differences that are often overlooked when setting up specialty life insurance.

• Once a Life Insurance policy is in force, it's considered to be 'non-cancellable' by the insurance provider (as long as you continue to pay the premiums)
• It's automatically renewed each year without any further assessment, for the life of the product (regardless of any changes in your health, occupation or personal situation)
• You may have the option to select level premiums for the life of the product. This can mean savings of thousands of dollars over the life of the product. The earlier this is done, the greater the savings that can be achieved.
• You may be able to pay the premiums from your superannuation fund balance. When done in combination with level premiums, this can be a very cost-effective strategy for most people.

When taking time means good value to you

These are also 4 reasons why Life Insurance companies spend a lot of time in the initial assessment of the policy — because once you have a policy, it can't be taken away from you. So, now you can see the value in having a non-cancellable Life Insurance policy that's right for you.

The typical scenario

Sadly, we come across situations where people have already applied for life insurance only to be refused based upon their lifestyle and their medical conditions.

• Every time they apply for insurance again, (any type of insurance covered by the Duty of Disclosure laws) they are legally required to disclose all past insurance refusals otherwise an insurance company can refuse a claim based upon non-disclosure.
• If they apply for insurance again, they are then legally required to disclose past insurance refusals. This often becomes a real cycle of pain.

Our anonymous pre-assessment process prevents this damage from happening.

Why the standard life insurance application form works against you when you have specialty needs

If you're health-conscious, eat and exercise well, maintain your weight and have an active lifestyle, this is important information that should also be taken into consideration by a life insurance underwriter. But with a standard application form, none of this is taken into account, so the result is almost always an automatic 'no'.

The disturbing reality is that the safety of your data is not safe when you don't use a specialist like Unusual Risks

One of the common practices for general advisers and employed advisers is to simply 'send your health information around to different insurance companies' in the hope that one of them might be interested and provide feedback on whether they can help. The ugly inside truth is that many of the risk insurers don't admit they don't both or provide helpful feedback because of vested interests and concerns over commercial intelligence.

• Unless you're a specialist adviser, you don't have the time to research and stay on top of the changes that occur on a monthly basis.

So now you can see why you need the specialist team at unusualrisks.com.au to get you the result safely, efficiently and confidentially.

Everything we do is all about giving you the best chance of success without the risk

At Unusual Risks, we understand the underwriting processes and the medical requirements that insurers need to work with. We can present you in the most favourable light so that your chances of success are the highest.

• We use technology to help us anonymously pre-assess your medical position so that potential difficulties can be dealt with — without the need to identify you and create a permanent record that might influence a future application.

In reality, someone living with HIV or diabetes is still more likely to be turned down for life insurance by mainstream insurers than someone who doesn't have these conditions. If you are offered cover, you'll pay about the same premium as other people with pre-existing conditions such as cancer, certain kinds of heart conditions, or smokers.

Our anonymous pre-assessment processgives you the absolute best chance of success.

How we do it?

• We start by providing up-to-date, high-quality relevant information about what's now possible for people living with diabetes or HIV.
• Then we provide an anonymous online pre-assessment service so that people can quickly find out if their medical condition is one we can work with.
• Finally, we check your medical information with you to confirm if you were to make a formal application for life insurances, you'd have a very significant chance of success.

10 Good reasons to choose Unusual Risks as your specialty risk adviser

1. You control the conversation
2. Easy online pre-Assessment
3. The ability to be pre-Assessed anonymously
4. The ability to complete personal and private questionnaires securely online
5. Our expertise and deep understanding of HIV and diabetes issues
6. Our skill at matching the right clients' health profiles to the right insurance providers
7. Our ability to talk about anything without judgment or embarrassment
8. Our No-surprises No-BS Guarantee
9. All our practices, procedures and interactions with our clients are Trauma Informed
10. Your choice of communication method: Video-to-Video, phone-to-phone or face-to-face (or just old-school email).

Tell us how we can best work with you, and we'll make that happen.

How long does the formal Life Insurance application take?

About 20 – 30 minutes depending upon the level of detail needed. But you can help and collect the results of your blood work ahead of time, which will speed up the process.  And by authorising us to use that information in a formal application, the application process becomes super fast.

How long does it take for you to get all the medical reports collected?

How long does the online health pre-assessment take?

This question has always intrigued me because it sounds similar to the equally difficult-to-answer question, ‘how long is a piece of string?’

I suppose the answer is, ‘as long as it needs to be and as much as you need to have’.

But that's probably not going to move the answer along much, so here is a good place to start your thinking.

An interesting question we're often asked is,
'Who are the most uninsured people in the community?'
The answer might surprise (and sadden) you.

Young male P plate drivers? Young Tradies? Army Reserve personnel? Single mothers? No.

The Australian LGBTQIA+ Community is one of the most underinsured and underserved markets with financial services.

This of course then leaves them and their families at greater vulnerability than their straight counterparts.

I am part of a *Serodiscordant relationship – can my partner get the same high-quality life insurance services from you as well at the same time as myself?

What if I’d previously had a diabetic coma, can I still qualify for life insurance?

I’m not Out so is that an issue?

Protecting yourself from sickness and injury – so you can keep on earning a living.

We help people living with well-managed HIV, diabetes or other complex health conditions get high quality Income Protection cover

Previously, people with complex health needs were excluded from high-quality Income Protection - now that's changed for our clients.

• Income Protection is an insurance cover for one of the most important assets of all – your ability to continue to keep on earning a living.

Explaining Income Protection

Income Protection insurance as the name suggests is designed to protect your ability to continue to earn an income and pay up to 70% (previously 75%) of your income if you're unable to work due to sickness or injury. It can provide cover worldwide 24/7 and can even protect 100% of your employer's super contributions too.

• The waiting period is the number of days before the income benefit payments start. It can be as short as 14 days and can be as long as 12 months (or even more), whatever you choose.
• The benefit period is the length of time you’ll receive payments while you’re unable to work due to sickness or injury. These can often be for set periods of 2 years or more, even up to age 65 (and now in some cases age 70), depending on what you choose.
• The payment method is the way you agree to pay the insurance premiums. These can be from your personal funds, perhaps from your super fund or even a combination of both, depending upon whatever you choose.

There are so many different options available with Income Protection.

Your financial advisor from unusual risks is the expert to best help you understand your options and cut through what can often feel an overwhelming process to find your unique solution.

Our income drives our lifestyle - not just paying rent, mortgages, car loans and credit cards, but living a full and interesting life Drew Browne

Practically speaking - always protect what you cannot afford to lose

Why you may need income protection

The financial engine of our lifestyles is our continuing ability to earn our incomes.

Over the course of a lifetime, most people will earn a small fortune (and rely upon their super contributions for their ability to eventually retire).

Protecting your ability to continue to earn an income makes clear financial sense.

It’s especially relevant for:

• Single people who might not have strong family or relationship support
• People in relationships depending upon dual incomes
• People with ongoing debts, like a mortgage, rent, credit cards and personal loans that couldn't be paid if they were unable to work due to sickness or injury.
• People who have regular family expenses like food, household bills, council rates or strata fees, school fees, vehicle costs (and perhaps child support payments or IVF treatment costs) and who don't have immediate access to substantial savings to use to replace their lost income if needed
• People who want an effective backup plan in place if one (or both of their incomes) were to stop due to sickness or injury

A special note for self-employed people

Self-employed and business people have different needs and restrictions on their incomes so if that's your situation, relax, the professionals behind Unusual Risks Insured can talk you through your special options too.

Real Life Statistics

• 20% of all mortgage defaults in Australia are ‘due to illness or accident in household'
  ^{(Mortgage default in Australia: nature, causes and social and economic Impacts, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, March 2010)}

Business Owners and Professional Partners have unique risks and needs not usually adequately covered by their private family insurance plans.

Business is filled with uncertainty. Now you can plan for that.

While the risks to businesses are seemingly unending, the personal risks to Owners and Professional Partners can usually be found in 4 areas.

• Business Key Person and Debt protection
• Business Fixed Expenses protection
• Business Owners and Professional Partnerships protection
• Business Owner and Partnership Succession protection.

These become increasingly sensitive and complicated issues for business owners and business partners who may have specific personal medical issues that deserve an enhanced level of privacy and are kept totally separate from their commercial activities.

• Company directors may need to use life insurance to protect the company trading debts, the director's account (when Director's funds have been lent to the company) or to protect the capital investment.
• Business partners may need to use insurances to limit becoming personally liable for company losses as their personal homes are often cross-securing the company debts.
• Partnerships and Investors may require company key-persons to use a range of insurances to help protect capital invested.

Why is this really important?

Personal insurance applications are one of the very few areas in business life where an individual's personal health and lifestyle is mandatorily required to be disclosed.

• Your private health and lifestyle history is considered an integral part of the insurance application and assessment process. This is because personal insurances are contracts between the life insured/policy owner and the life insurance company, so there's a legal duty to take reasonable steps not to mislead under Section 20B of the Insurance Contracts Act, requiring the full and frank disclosure of all personal sensitive medical and personal health data.
• Should an application for insurance be formerly declined, this can have unintended and long-lasting effects on so many areas that it becomes a risk to all future insurance.

This is why you need a specialty financial adviser from unusualrisks.com.au to help an individual and their company through the process.

How it all comes together.

Business Key Person and Debt Protection

The death or disablement of a key person could have a significant impact on the revenue of a business and therefore its ability to meet its day-to-day expenses.

• This could be because the key person for example, has a unique skill or has particular knowledge relevant to the business or has relationships with key clients nationally or internationally.

Business Fixed Expenses Protection

Business Overheads cover, (also known as fixed business expenses cover), allows a business to continue to pay its fixed expenses if one of the business owners becomes sick or injured.

• This type of cover usually pays a monthly benefit to the business, to meet its day-to-day fixed costs, generally for up to 12 months, if the insured person is disabled and is unable to work in the business at their full capacity.
• All family businesses need an insurance firewall to reduce business liabilities becoming personal liabilities.

Insurance policies to cover business overheads are generally owned by the business entity, sole traders or partners (in the case of a partnership and the policy premiums are generally tax-deductible, and the proceeds are treated as assessable income to the business.

Building protection into your business planning is one of the most important decisions you can make.

Business Owner and Professional Partnerships protection

At some point, many businesses will borrow money from a financial institution or a director – this may be to provide a business with capital for a major purchase or improvement, or simply to provide a source of working capital.

The purpose of business debt reduction insurance is to protect the business against its debts and to protect the guarantor and their estate against any claim over their personal assets.

• If the Key-person or Guarantor to a business loan experienced a serious illness, accident or worst - an unexpected death - a business could experience significant financial difficulty and may find it hard to continue to meet all of its loan repayments.
• A loan default could result and then trigger a 'call-up' of the business loan facility (usually 7 days notice) with a demand for the loan to be repaid in full.

Most 'at call loans' deem a Key Person death or disability as an automatic trigger event to call up the loan.

Business Owner & Partner Succession Protection

If you own a business with other people, it’s important for everyone to agree on how the ownership of the business will be transferred, should one of the owners (or principals) pass away, become disabled, or leave the business for another reason; eg: resignation or retirement.

• This is referred to as business continuation or succession, planning.

How that is made possible is usually heavily dependent upon;

• successfully applying and establishing personal insurances for protecting business risks, and
• involves the full and frank disclosures of all personal sensitive health and lifestyle information.

These create multiple specialty risks.

Unusual risks are the experts to manage and protect the information security and advice structures required by these business owners and professional partnerships.

Good News for Australians taking PrEP for HIV prevention.

People taking PrEP are now eligible for the full range of Life Insurance products stigma-free: if you know specialist Financial Advisor Drew Browne, the person behind unusualrisks.com.au

This means people using PrEP can get a full range of insurance covers;

• Life Insurance
• Income Protection
• Crisis Recovery Protection
• Total & Permanent Disability (TPD), and even
• past formal declines on insurance applications for Life Insurance or Income Protection cover

All policies are now available to Australians taking PrEP - stigma and attitude free - through the specialist financial advisers behind unusualrisks.com.au

So what is PrEP?

You may have already heard about PrEP or perhaps you're looking for more information about how it affects your chances of getting Life Insurance or Income Protection cover?

Either way, PrEP is a medical breakthrough that's already playing a vital role in the efforts to End HIV by 2020.  Now the medication is listed on the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), just about anyone can now get on it.

Taking PrEP is a highly effective medication for preventing exposure to HIV.

• PrEP is an acronym that stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis. It involves HIV-negative people taking antiretroviral drugs to protect themselves getting HIV and prevent HIV infection – in just one tablet a day.
• PrEP is, as the name implies, a pre-exposure strategy, unlike post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which is taken after potential exposure to HIV has occurred.

Who is taking PrEP?

Whether exposure to HIV is through sex or needlestick injuries, there are many people using PrEP to prevent them from being exposed to HIV and taking control of their sexual health and future well-being. 

• Studies show PrEP is effective but the uptake of PrEP has been slow with research showing that's partly due to Stigma and Discrimination concerns - something the team at unusualrisks.com.au understands and provides a complete solution for when you need to apply for Life Insurances or Income Protection.

In Australia, lots of people use PrEP for lots of reasons

• Some sexually active gay and bisexual men, transgender people and heterosexual people with an HIV positive partner who doesn't have an undetectable viral load, are part of the population groups at higher risk.
• Similarly, Medical Professionals, Police, Fire, Ambulance and Emergency Services Workers are all at higher risk of occupational exposure to blood-borne viruses through sharps and needlestick injury.

Real Life statistics

• In Australia, approximately 30 needlestick injuries (NSI's) per 100 beds occur per year.
• At least 18,000 healthcare professionals suffer from an NSI every year.
• And 80% of reported NSI's involve a contaminated needle. ^{The Alliance for Sharps Safety and Needlestick Prevention in Healthcare}

Research shows that the medication used for PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV transmission among these population groups.

You can learn more about PrEP here.

What's the problem with PrEP and getting Life Insurance?

Up until now, Australians taking PrEP have faced uncertainty, stigma and discrimination from Life Insurance companies towards the use of PrEP (and routinely find they also have to be the educator about PrEP).

• People applying for insurance through online comparison websites report completing the application with full lifestyle and medical disclosures, only to feel insulted when a formal decline is issued due to 'lifestyle considerations'
• People applying for insurance in their Superannuation fund report being routinely knocked back (and usually after having to disclose a full medical and lifestyle history) as the insurance provider doesn't 'deal with PrEP users'.

Most insurance companies and super funds simply do not provide underwriting for people with unusual occupations, hobbies, pastimes or lifestyles - if you get what we mean.

That's why people use the expertise of unusualrisks.com.au to get their insurances sorted - stigma-free.

How have Life Insurance companies treated people taking PrEP?

The New York Times broke the story of Dr. Philip Cheng, a urologist in Boston taking PrEP and being denied full insurance cover until he stopped taking, Truvada (the pharmaceutical brand name for PrEP) to prevent HIV infection.

• Many people applying for Life Insurances when disclosing they are taking PrEP to prevent them from being exposed to HIV have found themselves discriminated against and received forced formal declines on insurance applications for Life Insurance or Income Protection cover.

When American News is not accurate or helpful for Australians

Today as many people get their news from the internet, the growing risk is it may not always be relevant in Australia.

• Many American Life Insurance companies take a discriminatory approach to how they underwrite the use of PrEP and outright deny any form of insurance coverage.

• Many Australian Life Insurance companies and Superannuation Funds formerly decline applications for insurance by people using PrEP and discriminate in a similar way against people with well managed HIV or Diabetes.

Good news for Australians taking PrEP

The good news is Australians using PrEP and who need Life Insurance or Income Protection, now have a clear pathway to getting their cover sorted - stigma and discrimination free - through unusualrisks.com.au

Is a life insurance application assessed each year like car insurance?