Benefit

"Old" Products

"New" Products

Remarks

Life Cover

Expensive, funding structure linked to investment.

Cheaper, paying only for cover.

Disability Cover

"Occupation" based only
For example.if you were an admin worker with 'own or similar' disability cover. If you had an accident and were confined to a wheelchair... you could still do your job in a wheelchair, you could still perform a similar occupation...no claim.

"Occupation" and impairment definitions.

Much more holistic approach.

Subjective claims assessment.

Objective claims assessment.
You have certainty in knowing upfront what would constitute a claim.

Notice the "exact" conditions mentioned in some companies policy documents.

Waiting periods

Mostly no waiting periods

E.g., would you want a 6 month waiting period to get your money if you became disabled?
Would you still be able to pay your premium in those 6 months?

Exclusions (especially mental..depression and back disorders).

Check policy document.

Some companies have very progressive policies about this. Consider: mental and back disorders make up a large percentage of claims...would you want this exclusion?

Disability Benefit reduces from age 55 or 60 to retirement, where it is nil.

Called a "Tapering" benefit.

Check policy document.

Some companies keep disability benefit completely until retirement age. One company even automatically converts disability cover to Severe Illness cover at retirement age, allowing you cover for the rest of your life.

Severe Illnesses

Commonly the 10 Dread Diseases (Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke, etc.)

Comprehensive full body cover.

Much wider coverage.
Benefit pays out based on severity of illness, not only on disease diagnosis. Covers many more conditions.

Once the benefit has been paid on a disease, the benefits fall away and you are no longer covered.

Some companies allow multiple claims.

One company even allows claims on lower severities of the same condition. Be careful here...Multiple claims can mean different things to different companies.

Full benefit paid at claim.

Claims based on the severity of the illness.

Allows for the multiple claims, lower severities can also trigger a claim. Cover for more than just 10 conditions.