Life Insurance and Income Protection for Dental Assistants

Income Protection

Unable to assist for a while through illness or injury, how would your household manage?

Income protection can replace part of your income after a waiting period, within the policy’s terms and the insurer’s assessment.

We’ll compare income protection with you around your duties, days and pay, from a wide range of insurers.

Income protection can pay part of your income if illness or injury stops you working. Each income protection policy has its own definition of disability, and conditions that must be met before a claim is made. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods (how long a benefit can be paid for) and the amount.

What we look at with you on income protection:

• Illness as well as injury, since income protection can apply to either when it stops you working in the practice
• Your assisting, sterilising and any x-ray duties described in full, as an insurer usually asks about your job when you apply
• The definition of disability in each income protection policy, compared with the duties your role involves day to day
• A pay increase or a lower-earning year, and how it shows in the 12 months of earnings before an illness or injury
• A waiting period of weeks or months, chosen with you after counting any paid leave and savings you could use first
• Short and long benefit periods, compared on premium and on how long your household might need support
• Holding income protection inside or outside super, and the tax side of the premiums, which an accountant can confirm
• Exclusions a policy may carry, including for occupations or activities, explained with you before you apply

Learn more about Income Protection

Life Insurance

Who at home relies on your pay, and what would they need if you weren’t here?

Life cover can pay a lump sum if you die, or sooner on a terminal illness diagnosis if your policy includes it.

Together, we’ll work out a life cover amount with you from debts, costs and anyone relying on you.

Moneysmart says life cover pays a lump sum when you die, and terminal illness cover pays a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness. Insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply, and the insurer decides on each application.

What we work out with you on life cover:

• Rent or a mortgage, whichever applies, and how long a lump sum would need to cover it for anyone relying on you
• Household bills that would fall to a partner, if you have one, and how much of them a partner could manage alone
• Childcare and school years ahead, if you have children, priced into the lump sum you’d want for them
• Life cover already inside super from past practices or jobs, if there is any, added to the total before anything new
• Who receives the money: in super, the trustee decides unless a valid binding nomination applies; outside super, the policy’s nomination terms or your estate
• One premium covering death and disability together, and how paying a disability claim first can reduce the death benefit
• Assisting, sterilising and any x-ray tasks described on a life application, with each question answered carefully and accurately
• Any cover through your employer, which may not continue once you leave, asked about before you change practices

Learn more about Life Insurance

TPD Insurance

Never able to work again: which of your plans would matter most to protect?

A TPD payment is a lump sum, paid if you meet total and permanent disability as the policy defines it.

We’ll explain TPD definitions with you, and how they could treat the skills dental assisting builds.

Total and permanent disability (TPD) cover can use own occupation wording, which asks whether you could work again in the job you had before your disability, or any occupation wording, which asks about any job suited to your education, training or experience. Moneysmart says own occupation cover is usually only available outside super. Some definitions look at activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing, instead of work, and the insurer or fund decides each claim.

What we compare with you on TPD:

• Whether a policy you’re considering offers own occupation wording, and how it would treat assisting, sterilising and any x-ray work
• Skills from dental assisting, such as patient education, records and ordering supplies, and how any occupation wording might count your skills
• The TPD wording in your super fund, or in each fund if you have more than one, compared with your duties today
• The occupation your fund or policy has recorded for you, and whether it still matches dental assisting
• Activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing, which some TPD definitions use instead of work, explained with you
• Paying off a home loan, or covering years of rent, as one way to use a TPD payment, set against what your household would need
• How a one-off TPD payment and regular income protection benefits could work together, if you hold both
• Working part-time when you apply, if you do, and how a TPD definition looks at reduced hours

Learn more about TPD Insurance

Trauma Insurance

Serious illness and weeks off for treatment: which costs would you want help with?

Trauma cover could pay a lump sum when a listed condition meets the policy’s definition and no exclusion applies.

We’ll compare what each trauma policy lists with you, and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.

New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014. Moneysmart notes medical definitions can be different between insurers, so each policy’s list is worth comparing. Tax on a payment is a question for an accountant.

What we compare with you in a trauma policy:

• Two or three trauma policies side by side, so you can see where their lists and definitions differ
• Fitting trauma premiums into your budget, whatever days you work, since a new trauma policy has to be held outside super
• A diagnosis during an income protection waiting period, and how a lump sum could help in those weeks
• Casual shifts you’d miss during treatment, if you work casually, with no paid leave to fall back on, and the bills a lump sum could meet
• A trauma benefit attached to a life policy, and the smaller life amount that can remain after a trauma payment
• Fewer days at work after treatment, if you return part-time for a while, and the pay a lump sum could make up
• A trauma policy you already hold, if you have one, and the terms you’d give up by replacing it
• The tax treatment of a trauma payment, which an accountant can explain before you choose cover

Learn more about Trauma Insurance

Cover in Super

Is there cover in your super, and does it still suit the dental assisting you do now?

Your fund statements can show any cover, its cost and the occupation recorded for you.

Together, we’ll check each fund’s insurance with you before you combine, switch or change anything.

Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules found in the fund’s product disclosure statement (PDS), the document that explains the cover. Increasing it is usually underwritten: you’ll usually need to answer questions and may need medical checks. Premiums are deducted from your super balance.

What we check in each fund with you:

• A fund from a job before dental assisting, if you still have one, and what any insurance in it costs each year
• Whether your fund lists you as a dental assistant or under an older job, and Moneysmart’s suggestion to contact the fund if that record is incorrect
• Starting at a new practice or corporate group, when your contributions generally follow you to your current fund unless you pick a different one
• Super from two practices in the same week, which may mean one fund or two, and what each fund charges for insurance
• A fund opened through a public dental clinic job, if you’ve had one, and any insurance that fund still charges for
• Premiums for any insurance in your super each year, compared with what your working days put in
• Rolling one fund into another, and the insurance you may lose in the account you close, checked with you first
• More cover than the default amount, if you want it, and the health questions an insurer usually asks before it decides

Learn more about Superannuation

Assisting, Sterilising and X-Ray Duties

Could describing your duties clearly help each insurer understand the work you do?

Clear duties on an application can help an insurer assess it on the work you actually do.

Together, we’ll describe your duties for an application, and check how a policy or fund records them.

Jobs and Skills Australia lists tasks for dental assistants such as assisting dental practitioners during dental procedures, sterilising and preparing dental instruments and equipment, and taking and developing dental radiographs (x-rays). Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care.

What we describe with you about your work:

• Assisting during procedures, described as the share of your week it takes up, so an application reflects your role
• Sterilising and preparing instruments, listed as a separate duty rather than folded into a general job title
• Taking x-rays, if your role includes them, and any radiation licence you hold, stated as facts of the job
• Preparing dental materials such as cements and impression materials, included so the full range of your work is clear
• Patient education, one of the tasks Jobs and Skills Australia lists, described in your own words for an application
• Records, ordering and supplies, plus any reception share, so desk work in your week is shown alongside the assisting
• Your job title, compared with the tasks you actually do each week, so an application describes the work and not only the title
• A change in duties after a new qualification, a move or a senior role, and how a policy or fund would record it

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Part-Time Days, Casual Shifts and Parental Leave

Part-time days, casual shifts or parental leave: how could each come into your cover?

Describing your usual week and any time away plainly can help each insurer understand your pattern of work.

We’ll describe your days, hours and pay with you, and ask each insurer how it treats them.

Under one award that covers many dental assistants, a part-time employee and their employer agree in writing on a regular pattern of work, including the hours and days. Fair Work says casuals don’t get most types of paid leave. Income protection is generally for illness or injury, so it isn’t designed for weeks a practice is closed.

What we describe with you about your days:

• The days and start and finish times recorded in a written part-time agreement, used as your usual week on an application
• A two or three day week, if you work one, and whether an income protection policy has a minimum hours rule, as some do
• Casual work, at one practice or a few, with no paid sick leave behind it, and pay records that show what you usually earn
• Relief or agency placements, with pay from each source gathered so an insurer sees your whole year
• Months on parental leave, if you take them, and how each insurer would look at a year with less pay in it
• Returning to the practice on fewer days, if you do, and whether your cover still reflects the hours you now work
• Working Monday to Wednesday at one practice and Saturdays at another, with both jobs included when you apply
• A temporary practice closure, which income protection isn’t designed to cover, as it’s for illness or injury

Learn more about Personal Insurance

When to Review Your Cover

As your skills and days in the practice change, is your cover still the right fit?

Each new qualification, practice or change at home can be a chance to look at your cover again.

We can talk through your cover with you, if you hold some, alongside your work and home life now.

Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. In dental assisting, you can move from trainee to qualified, from casual to permanent or into a new practice, and each change can alter your pay and how an application describes your work. We can look at a policy or fund statement with you, and the insurer decides on any new application.

Changes worth raising with us:

• Finishing a traineeship and qualifying, and how the change in pay shows in the earnings an insurer looks at
• A Certificate IV or new x-ray duties, and whether the job your fund or policy records still matches your work
• A move to a new practice or a corporate group, with questions about cover through the new employer, if it offers cover
• More days or fewer, and how the change could affect income protection and the amounts you’d choose
• Casual work becoming a permanent role, and any paid leave you may now have, counted when choosing a waiting period
• Starting study towards a registered dental role, and how a drop in hours could affect the way some policies treat you
• Joining a new super fund as a trainee under 25, and asking that fund whether insurance has started for you
• Moving in with a partner, a new baby or a separation, and the amount of life and TPD cover your household may now need

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Making a Claim

Forms, reports and follow-up calls: who could help if you ever need to claim?

Help with each form and step, while the insurer or fund assesses the claim, can make it easier to follow.

We can lodge your claim with you, then follow up each step while the insurer or fund assesses it.

Moneysmart says to speak first to whoever you bought the policy from, your fund for cover in super, or your employer for cover through work. An insurer can ask for details of your work duties, including physical requirements, and the number of hours you work each week. A complaint goes to the insurer or fund first, then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

How we help with a claim:

• Where your cover sits, through super, a practice or a policy of your own, so the claim starts in the right place
• Your duties, physical requirements and weekly hours, which Moneysmart says an insurer may ask about, described with you
• Recent payslips and tax returns, which Moneysmart lists among the documents a claim can need, collected with you
• Medical reports the insurer requests, and which treating doctors should provide each report, organised with you
• Workers compensation for a practice job, which its scheme handles separately from your own cover, and each scheme sets who qualifies
• Other income you receive while off work, and how a policy’s terms can lower its benefit because of it
• A return to the practice on fewer days, and the questions to ask the insurer about payments while your hours build back up
• Disagreeing with how a claim was decided, and the path from the insurer or fund’s own process to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority

Health Conditions & Illnesses

Could a health condition change the cover an insurer offers you?

Our guides explain what insurers may ask about common conditions, and a health condition doesn’t necessarily rule out cover.

We can help you prepare an application when you have a health condition or a past illness.

Underwriting is how an insurer assesses an application and decides whether to offer cover, on what terms and at what price. Possible outcomes include standard terms, a higher premium, an exclusion, a request to apply again later, or a decline.

Guides by health condition:

• Cover with a health condition: where to start
• Autoimmune conditions
• Back or joint conditions
• Blood conditions
• Cancer history
• Diabetes
• Digestive conditions
• Eye or hearing conditions
• Heart conditions
• HIV or hepatitis
• Kidney conditions
• Mental health conditions
• Neurological conditions
• Respiratory or sleep conditions
• Weight, smoking or alcohol history
• Women’s health conditions