Trauma insurance

The Body Worlds exhibition of dissected, ‘‘plastinated’’ human bodies and body parts has opened in Auckland. The exhibition has been causing controversy for 20 years, and makes a big play of its ‘‘public health’’ value, teaching visitors (45 million worldwide and counting) about the dangers of not looking after their health, exposing them to such sights as blackened lungs, hardened arteries, and stroke-damaged brains.

One of the exhibition sponsors is Partners Life, which, like many insurers, is keen to associate itself with promoting good health among its policyholders.

The aim of life, trauma and income protection insurance is to cover the financial risk to families of posed by ill-health and death, but neither an insurer or a policyholder is a winner when a claim is lodged.

A claim paid equates to a family better able to cope in a crisis, but far better for people to look after their health and minimise the chance of ever making one.

The Body Worlds exhibition contains pointers for healthy living for people aiming to avoid making claims on the four major forms of personal insurance: trauma, life, income protection and medical insurance.

Invented in the early 1980s as ‘‘disease insurance’’, trauma insurance is designed to pay a lump sum in the event of a policyholder being diagnosed with one of a number of specified diseases, though a level of severity must be reached for some diseases.

The number of diseases covered by trauma has increased over the years, leading to policies being so long that they ‘‘won’t fit into a standard letterbox’’.

The big two sources of claims are cancer and cardiovascular conditions.

Partners Life founder Naomi Ballantyne turned her health around a decade ago after it suffered thanks to the long hours and hard-living that used to be endemic in the insurance industry.

For her, the Body Worlds exhibition plays an important role in awareness-raising.

‘‘What I learnt, and what fascinated me the most, was just how complex and fragile the human body is.’’

Ballantyne said cancer represented 55 per cent of claims paid by Partners, while ‘‘cardiovascular’’ (read heart) represented 19 per cent of claims.

With life insurers moving steadily towards becoming life ‘‘assurers’’, aiming to help policyholders manage their health and avoid claims, there’s plenty of advice around to reduce your chances of making a claim.

Obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise and smoking are all linked to increased chances of contracting cancer.

‘‘Being obese increases the risk of chronic disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, stroke and some forms of cancer,’’ visitors to the Body Worlds exhibition are told. They are also invited to contemplate plastinated lungs ridden with cancer, and emphysema.

‘‘Tobacco smoke contains a deadly mix of more than 4000 chemicals,’’ the accompanying information says.

‘‘One danger of long-term smoking is the development of lung cancer. Lung cancer is at least 20 times more common in smokers than in non-smokers.’’

Most people who have trauma insurance cancel it before they ever need to make a claim.

The magic health formula for lifting your chances of being a policyholder who gets to do that is simple: Eat healthily, don’t smoke, keep your weight ‘‘normal’’, take regular exercise, drink only moderately, manage your stress, and get regular GP check-ups (and follow his or her health advice).

Life insurance

It’s cancer again at the top of the list, representing 36 per cent of claims on Partners Life life insurance policies. That’s followed by cardiovascular issues (17 per cent), and ‘‘external causes’’, which translate as accidents.

For accidents, trauma insurance acts as a top-up to ACC, and can make life a lot easier for families when a severe accident disrupts life and income.

Although a few people carry life insurance into retirement, for most, it’s a policy they hope to cancel long before a claim is made.

Ballantyne was particularly impressed by the Body Worlds exhibition’s material on obesity, a condition that is common in New Zealand, and something she personally fought and won.

Visitors are told: ‘‘Obesity has a profound effect on lifespan. Researchers have found that young obese men live 13 fewer years than expected; very obese women live eight fewer years.’’

The exhibition showed slides of fat layers under the skin, and the pressure that puts on the body.

It also contained some strippedout hardened arteries, designed to educate visitors about the effects of untreated high blood pressure.

‘‘Its main cause is an unhealthy lifestyle,’’ visitors are told. ‘‘A diet too high in salt and fat, alcohol, cigarettes, lack of physical activity, and permanent stress all increase our chances of developing high blood pressure.’’

A cross-section of a brain that had suffered a stroke is included in the exhibition. ‘‘The stroke victim cannot survive if the stroke damages brain areas responsible for the life-sustaining functions such as the brain stem,’’ the accompanying information says. ‘‘Approximately 15 per cent of all deaths are due to strokes.’’

Income protection

Income protection is a type of insurance designed to replace a person’s income if injury or illness prevents them from working.

Cancer drops into second place as the cause of claims (19 per cent).

In first place is ‘‘external events’’, again meaning accidents, which sparked 32 per cent of claims paid. In third place is mental health, which the Body Worlds exhibition does not cover.

The same magic lifestyle behaviours that reduce the risk of having to claim on trauma insurance go for income protection and life insurance, though adopting defensive driving and cycling strategies can also be added to that mix.

Medical insurance

This is a type of insurance almost everyone who has it claims on.

It enables people to get treatment for some conditions more quickly by going private, including for joint replacements.

At Body Worlds, exhibition visitors are treated to the sight of one posed body with its shoulder and knee replacement joints revealed.

The main causes of claims on health insurance are far more widely spread than on life, income protection and trauma policies, Ballantyne said.

Cancer was in first place (11 per cent) in claims made to Partners Life, followed by cardiovascular issues (6 per cent).