Dread Disease Insurance
The dread disease insurance ( English dread disease = terrible illness, bad ailments) is a private personal insurance , which covers the occurrence of a serious illness as a secondary risk in addition to the main risk underlying an insurance on death .
Origin / history
The first dread disease insurance was developed in 1983 in South Africa by Marius Barnard , a heart surgeon , and from there it spread across the Anglo-American region.
In Germany, the form of insurance has only been approved for sale since 1993 and is offered by a few insurance companies.
Insured risks
The German term for serious illnesses prevention is somewhat misleading, as this insurance not only covers illnesses in the actual sense (such as severe forms of cancer , multiple sclerosis , liver diseases , lung diseases , Parkinson's disease , arthritis, etc.) but also other events such as heart attacks , strokes or the consequences of serious accidents may be included in the cover of such a policy. The number, type and insurance-relevant definition of the insured risks vary widely among insurers.
Tariff characteristics
The amount of the premium results from the usual factors for insurance contracts with biometric risks (e.g. age, gender, sum insured, duration or previous illnesses). Pre-existing conditions, as with health insurance for. B. cause a surcharge, exclusion or rejection. In terms of the design of the other tariff features (waiting and waiting times, dynamics), the insurance is similar to health insurance and life insurance .
With some dread disease insurance, components such as B. Death, disability, long-term care or disability protection can be included. But also dread disease supplementary insurance to other insurance such as B. term life insurance or basic capacity insurance are offered.
A possible operational use is the use of a dread disease insurance as so-called " key worker insurance " (also called "keyman policy"). Here, executives or specialists of a company are insured to compensate for a possible financial loss of the company in the event of failure. In this constellation, the company is the policyholder and the "keyperson" is the insured person. In the event of a claim, the sum insured therefore goes to the company.
Differentiation from other similar insurance companies
In contrast to occupational disability insurance or disability insurance , no monthly pension is paid out, but instead, as a rule, a fixed sum insured once after the diagnosis , regardless of whether the insured person's workforce is restricted or not.
Tax treatment
Dread disease insurance is a life insurance policy for tax purposes. At the start of the contract after the Retirement Income Act came into force on January 1, 2005, the contributions are no longer deductible as special expenses, 50% of the income is taxable ( Section 20 (1) No. 6 new EStG ).
criticism
One advantage of dread disease insurance is that checking the benefit case is easier and less time-consuming than with occupational disability insurance, as there are different benefit requirements.
It is often discussed whether dread disease insurance can be a replacement for occupational disability insurance. So-called office activities are included in this discussion, as occupational disabilities are significantly less common here than in manual professions. Since these two forms of employee protection overlap in the range of benefits, they basically cover different benefit cases, the individual situation of the person to be insured must always be taken into account. The Federation of Insured Persons and the Rhineland-Palatinate Consumer Advice Center advise not to forego occupational disability insurance in favor of dread disease insurance, but rather to view this as a supplement to occupational disability insurance. The reason given is that the dread disease hardly covers orthopedic and psychological ailments in terms of performance, although these are often the main causes that lead to loss of manpower.
On the other hand, Dread Disease Insurance can be a valuable alternative for people for whom it is not possible to take out occupational disability insurance or not without exclusion (this is often the case if psychological or psychotherapeutic counseling has been taken in the recent past), as current or past psychological complaints are usually of no consequence in the risk assessment for a degree.
Individual evidence
- ↑ VI. Protection of further risks BMF of October 1, 2009 - IV C 1 - S 2252/07/0001 (BStBl 2009 I p. 1172)
- ↑ https://www.actuaries.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Barnard.pdf
- ↑ Klaus Lindberg: EStG § 10 special editions / 2.1.4.7.1 General Haufe.de, accessed on July 17, 2019
- ↑ Requirements for the special expenditure deduction taxesetz.de, accessed on July 17, 2019
- ↑ BU vs. Dread Disease on n-tv.de accessed on May 22, 2012
- ^ Insurance against serious illnesses ( Memento from August 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Consumer Center Saxony, April 28, 2008