The insurance products of AXA have been modified to better meet the demands of consumers, incorporating improvements to areas such as specific illness coverage, its adviser communications techniques and its underwriting processes.
AXA Australia head of insurance Derek Hogg said: “In September last year we went to the marketplace with a brand new suite of products. This year it was about maintaining our market position, so we have carried out several upgrades to definitions, we’ve introduced a couple of new ones and a couple of different coverages.
“Fundamentally, the product is already in the right place, certainly the premium rate structure is definitely in the right place, so we’ve made no changes to that,” he added.
Among some of the changes to the coverage of specific illnesses are relaxed definitions in relation to breast cancer and prostate cancer.
“We’ve introduced a comprehensive cancer option, which is all about partial definitions and has eliminated the need for the severity of diagnosis that you would otherwise have in traditional trauma products,” Hogg said.
“Quite simply, you don’t need radical surgery or the removal of the breast, you now need the diagnosis. Prostate was the same. You had the severity of the operation and the actual removal of the prostate. Instead of this, people who are getting early diagnoses are to be rewarded as they represent very good risks if they are looking after themselves in that regard, so we brought in the comprehensive cancer option around partial payment,” he explained.
In what Hogg believes is an industry first, the cancer coverage now tackles the issue of melanoma as well.
AXA has also introduced a new premium waiver option for its clients.
“We will waive all premiums that are part of the original life insurance policy schedule. One of the reasons we like that is when a person is down on their luck and, say, get only 75 per cent of their income, the first thing they do is cancel their insurances. The last thing they should do is cancel their insurances and we should encourage that mindset,” Hogg said.
In addition, AXA has increased the frequency of its communication with clients and has enhanced the administration facilities available to advisers.
The insurance application process has been streamlined too, with the mandatory documentation being reduced from 27 to eight pages.
