Macquarie Life Announces Enhanced Offerings - Lifebroker

Lifebroker has noted the announcement by Macquarie Life that changes to two of its flagship offerings, Macquarie Life FutureWise and Macquarie Life Active. According to the announcement, the changes reflect adviser input and build on the existing strengths of the two offerings, which together constitute the core of the company's mainstream life insurance products.

FutureWise will be enhanced by making available an alternate tier based on the extended activities of daily living (extended ADLs) feature previously limited to Active. The alternative tier will include the "any occupation, own occupation and domestic duties definition of total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance," according to the company.

As the company explains, this will obviate the need for occupational assessment in some cases and will include "an objective measure for assessing impairment based on the ability to perform extended ADLs." If that objective measure reveals that the insured is able to perform no more than two of the six categories of extended ADLs, the insured will be entitled to benefits.

FutureWise policies will also incorporate a "Partial Impairment" option that will make partial benefit payments in the event that an insured cannot perform "a specified number of extended ADLs."

Similar changes have been made to Active. Category A Health Events will now include "occupational impairment" and claims that fall outside other policy health events will now fall within that revised formulation. "A definition of own occupation, any occupation or domestic duties will be applied to each eligible policy based on the applicant's occupation and hours worked," according to the announcement.

Macquarie is also increasing Active's maximum cover to $4 million and adding an extended care option. That option will pay an additional benefit "to help cover the expenses associated with long term care if a claimant suffers serious long term impairment," the company said.

According to Macquarie Life CEO Justin Delaney, Active has been well received since its 2010 introduction and FutureWise will benefit from incorporating features that were previously available only through Active. By offering both products, the company was able to identify features that were valued by advisers and that would be enhancements to its existing offerings. "Through these latest updates, we are pleased to be sharing the features that are in demand across both products to bring together the best of both worlds," Delaney said.

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