AIA Australia has amended the definition of heart attack for its income protection product.

The improved definition removes any doubt about payment under the product’s crisis recovery benefit in the event of a heart attack, regardless of its severity.  

AIA Head of Product and Marketing Tim Tez says the move is in response to the rising incidence of cardiovascular disease – the second largest cause of all crisis recovery claims for the insurer.

“The upgrade was in response to improvements in clinical practice employing earlier detection techniques,” Mr Tez said.

Other changes to the crisis recovery benefits include an improved cancer definition, the introduction of terminal illness, intensive care and out of hospital cardiac arrest benefits.

AIA has extended the elective or cosmetic surgery benefit to all of its income protection policies.

It has also expanded its income protection cover to allow advisers to sell the product within a super fund.

Mr Tez says the move gives advisers another option when selling income protection products, which is a growth area for new life insurance business.

“The option to purchase income protection insurance was designed for a range of different clients,” he said.

“These include self-employed clients who may struggle with no employer super support, but can claim personal contributions to super as a tax deduction.”

Mr Tez says this new product option will address clients’ concerns about cash flow and taxation.

“AIA is constantly looking at how it can assist advisers to grow their businesses by developing and improving products to meet the clients’ needs,” he said.

“It is just one example of how we are developing offerings for advisers in the best interests of clients.”