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Frequently asked questions FAQs

While our team is available and happy to answer any questions you might have, we appreciate that sometimes it’s faster simply to find the answer yourself. That’s why we’ve created this frequently asked questions page – so that all the most commonly asked questions about Encompass Protection can be found in one central place.

Applying for life insurance with HIV

Life insurance can offer you peace of mind and provide a financial safety net during the most challenging times. We provide a range of products designed to ensure financial security in the event of death, critical illness, and disability caused by injury, or major illness.

When you apply for cover, we’ll consider your occupation, lifestyle, leisure activities and medical history to decide whether (and on what terms and conditions) insurance can be offered to you. We assess all applications for comprehensive life insurance the same way for everyone who applies. When we ask personal questions, we will try our best to ensure you feel comfortable and safe. Our industry has strict rules in place to protect you through the application process.

Can I get life insurance if I’m HIV positive?

If you’re living with HIV, you can apply for life insurance and be confident your application will be assessed. Advances in HIV treatment have improved the general health and life expectancy of people living with HIV, so the range of insurance products available is increasing.

What questions will I be asked when applying for life insurance?

When applying for life insurance with us, you’ll need to provide details about your health, medical history, occupation, employment status, income, high-risk hobbies, travel plans, and residency status. As part of the underwriting process, all applicants are asked about their HIV status. Specifically, we’ll ask whether you’ve ever tested positive for HIV or are currently awaiting test results. If you disclose a HIV positive status, we’ll ask for additional details about your diagnosis, treatment plan, viral load, and any related conditions. We don’t ask about your sexual orientation or personal relationships.

What happens if I disclose that I’m HIV positive?

If you tell us that you’re living with HIV we may request a medical report from your treating doctor. This report should include recent blood test results, CD4 count, viral load levels, and details of your treatment plan. If your test results are not up to date, we may ask you to complete a blood test, either through your doctor or a medical examiner of our choice.

What other information do I need to provide?

We require a complete picture of your medical history. This includes details about your height, weight, alcohol or recreational drug use, current and past medical conditions, treatments and any previous diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections.

While some of these questions may feel personal, they’re asked of all applicants seeking underwritten cover. Our goal is simply to gather the necessary information to assess any potential health risks.

What kinds of cover can I get and do any exclusions apply?

Depending on your health and the level of cover being applied for, we may offer Life Cover, Total and Permanent Disability, Critical Illness and Income Protection. The insurance may be subject to terms such as a higher premium (called loadings), a shorter-term policy, and/or exclusions. In certain scenarios, we may not be able to offer you cover at all.

For example, Critical Illness pays a benefit for medically or occupationally acquired HIV. If you disclose an HIV positive status, these events would be excluded from your policy, but you would be covered for a range of other critical illness events.

Note: The critical illness events of Bacterial Meningitis and Encephalitis have exclusions if they resulted due to a HIV infection.

Questions?

Your financial adviser can help you choose the insurance type that best suits your needs and provide support throughout the application process. Alternatively, you can reach out to us for assistance.

Useful resources

Please see below further resources on living with HIV.

Specialist Support Services What do they offer? Telephone Website page
Health Equity Matters Advocates awareness, understanding and proactivity around HIV prevention, education, support and research, and provides a voice for communities affected by HIV. (02) 9557 9399 https://www.healthequitymatters.org.au/
National Association of People with HIV Australia Australia’s peak non-government organisation representing community-based groups of people living with HIV (PLHIV). (02) 8568 0300 https://napwha.org.au/
Institute of Many Australia’s largest grassroots movement for People Living with HIV. A place where people living with HIV find support, online and in person. https://theinstituteofmany.org/
ViiV Healthcare Pharmaceutical company focused solely on HIV and AIDS, helping people living with or affected by HIV to thrive. (03) 9968 1002 https://www.qlaw.org.au/
ACON Supports people living with HIV to live healthy and connected lives. (02) 9206 2000 https://www.acon.org.au/
HIV/AIDS Legal Centre Not-profit community legal services. (02) 9492 6540 https://halc.org.au/

 

Tags: Applying for Encompass Protection

Your individual choices and personal circumstances are applied to our set of standard premium rates to calculate your premiums. The standard premium rates are not guaranteed to stay the same. Occasionally, we need to adjust our standard premium rates to ensure we can continue to support our customers when you need us the most – at claim time.

  • When we review our standard premium rates, we will look at factors including the following:
  • for expected future claims costs, factors can include recent claims experience, or industry trends which show a likely increase in the future cost of claims
  • for other costs of doing business, factors can include changes to tax, government or other mandatory charges, the cost of reinsurance, the costs to meet compliance and regulatory requirements, distribution costs, and changes to business operating expenses, and
  • for reasonable margins in providing the cover, factors can include changes to the economic environment such as interest rates, inflation rates and market returns, or the achievement of a fair shareholder target return for the commercial risks taken in providing the insurance.

If we make changes to our standard premium rates, we will always act reasonably and with utmost good faith, and any changes will be applied consistently for policies of the same kind.  This means your policy will not be singled out for a change in premium rates.

If your premium increases, you have a number of options to manage the cost of your cover, such as reducing your cover or changing the options on your cover.  Please speak to us or your financial adviser for assistance.

We recognise that everyone’s situation and needs are different. Family and domestic violence takes many different forms, not just of physical violence. It can also include, but is not limited to:

  • emotional abuse
  • financial/economic abuse
  • psychological abuse
  • coercive control
  • elder abuse
  • sexual abuse
  • threats of abuse
  • damage to property and animals

This Policy outlines how we can help you if you’re affected by family and domestic violence and your situation affects your ability to access or control your insurance options.

About this Policy

We’re committed to supporting and treating all our customers with empathy, compassion and respect.

We may not always be able to identify someone affected by family and domestic violence, so please contact us on 1300 476 030 when it’s safe to do so. We may be able to direct you to additional support and services.

Our commitment to you 

Your safety is our top priority.

If you’re affected by family and domestic violence, we will offer the following assistance:

Communication options We’ll explore safe, alternative ways to communicate with you, using your preferred method at a mutually suitable time and date and record the support you require. Your preferred method will be applied across all your policies with us.
Collecting information You don’t have to repeatedly disclose your family and domestic violence situation. Wherever possible, we’ll minimise the amount of information we request from you. We understand you may not have access to your personal information, records and documents, so we’ll consider alternative ways to validate your information and establish your identity (note, there are times when we are required by law to confirm your identity. This is a requirement under Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules Instrument 2007 (No.1)).
Extra support If you prefer, we can direct our communications and documents to a nominated support person. They may be your financial counsellor, lawyer, community services or social worker, legal aid officer, family violence specialist or any other services.

If you require an interpreter, please call 13 14 50.
Financial hardship If you’re also experiencing financial hardship, we’ll discuss our flexible support options to help you stay covered. In the event of a claim, we may be able to assist by prioritising your claim or making an advance payment where appropriate.
Privacy We protect your right to privacy in line with our privacy policy. We’ll make sure any information relating to your situation is treated with care and sensitivity, ensuring it remains confidential (under the Privacy Act).
Referral If you would like us to, we can also help you get in touch with an external family violence or financial hardship service, or other support services. 
Beneficiary nominations If you’re the policy owner, we’ll assist you if you need to change your beneficiary nomination(s).
Claims We’ll do what we can to minimise the impact your situation has on your claim. We’ll be flexible and sensitive in our approach to your claim and provide you with additional support. This may include obtaining information on your behalf, minimising the information we request from you or prioritising your claim.
Product design When designing or making changes to our products, services and processes, whether through upgrades or obligations, we’ll consider the potential impacts and implications our products, services, and processes may have on someone experiencing family and domestic violence.

Our commitment to help our people help you 

Our staff are trained to treat you with dignity, respect and compassion, no matter what you’re going through.

We make sure our staff receive regular role-appropriate training and reference documents to help them recognise signs of family and domestic violence and offer appropriate support (e.g. referral to any family and domestic violence support services). We’ll regularly review the training and reference documents to ensure they remain up to date.

We’re committed to increasing awareness and creating a supportive workplace, providing internal guidelines and services (appropriate debriefing and counselling) for staff who may be impacted directly by family and domestic violence or distressed after assisting a customer affected by family and domestic violence.

If you have a complaint about our organisation, related to our products, services, staff or the handling of a complaint, we’d like the opportunity to put it right.

We consider the impact of family and domestic violence and financial abuse when prioritising complaints to ensure timely and appropriate responses.

You can access information about the complaint management process online here.

Next review date

We’ll regularly monitor our Family and Domestic Violence Policy and review this Policy at least every three years from the date of publication or earlier if there are changes to laws, regulations or guides that would necessitate it being reviewed earlier.

We appreciate that when your client needs to make a claim, they’re often experiencing a period of uncertainty and financial vulnerability. That’s why our claims process is responsive and straightforward.

Importantly, we also understand and value the role of the adviser during claims time. Further information about our claims process is available here.

Tags: About Encompass Protection | Claims

No, we only accept online applications for Encompass Protection. You can submit an online application via our adviser portal.

However, if you’re meeting with a client and won’t have access to our online portal, we’ve created a data capture form – this form allows you to collect the information required to complete the application online when you return to your office. You can access our data capture form here or order printed copies here.

Tags: Applying for Encompass Protection

Yes, you can order printed copies of the Encompass Protection PDS via our online ordering portal available here.

To order printed PDSs, you must be a registered Encompass Protection adviser.

Not registered with us? Simply complete our ‘register your interest’ form available here.

 Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to contact our sales team directly on:

Phone: 1300 576 049

Email: adviser@encompassprotect.com.au

Tags: Adviser services

Our aim is to make life as easy as possible. We’ve therefore kept the number of forms your client needs to complete to the absolute minimum.

In the first instance, we recommend you get in touch with our underwriting, service or claims team – they’ll be able to confirm the most efficient way to manage your enquiry or request.

 Our team can be contacted on:

 Phone: 1300 576 049

Email: customerservice@encompassprotect.com.au

Tags: Adviser services

If you’re a registered Encompass Protection adviser, you can contact your dedicated NEOS service consultant for support with Encompass Protection administration or commission enquiries.

If you’re not a registered Encompass Protection adviser, simply complete our ‘register your interest’ form available here.

 Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to contact our sales team directly on:

Phone: 1300 576 049

Email: adviser@encompassprotect.com.au

Tags: Commissions | Adviser services

If you’re a registered Encompass Protection adviser, you can contact your dedicated underwriter for support with Encompass Protection underwriting questions and enquiries.

If you’re not a registered Encompass Protection adviser, simply complete our ‘register your interest’ form available here.

 Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to contact our sales team directly on:

Phone: 1300 576 049

Email: adviser@encompassprotect.com.au

Tags: Adviser services | Applying for Encompass Protection

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