CURRENT ISSUES

Every person has situations in life when the client, for example, during a vacation, consciously exposes himself to greater or lesser danger: participates in rafting on a river, goes skiing, goes diving or scuba diving. Of course, the insurance company will provide protection in such cases, since they are rare. However, cases are not accepted for insurance when the insured person is engaged in dangerous sports, such as motocross, or when he has extreme hobbies: diving with a depth of more than 10 m, hang gliding, etc. Therefore, when drawing up the contract, the client is obliged to fill out a detailed questionnaire and indicate their nature. If it turns out that the client is engaged in parachuting or mountaineering, a special letter is sent, which stipulates special conditions and exceptions.

The life insurance contract is long-term and cumulative. In order for it not to depreciate, it can be indexed taking into account the increase in the official consumer price index (hereinafter referred to as the index). The policy indicates the date on which the index was taken as 100%, the so-called base - index. The index is counted from an earlier date than the start of insurance, so that at the time of printing the next annual prescriptions there were already official values ​​​​of the consumer price index. The latter for each month are taken from the official website of the Committee of the Statistics Service of Ukraine. The insured should know that the sum insured is indexed, not the insurance premium. Thus, the sum insured is increased by the size of the index and the insurance premium is further recalculated. It should be noted that the percentage of the increase in the insurance premium is not equal to the index due to mathematical reasons. Indexation is provided only for contracts concluded in hryvnia without a link to the US dollar. And it is not automatically offered for those signed in the dollar equivalent. However, the insured can always increase the amount of the insurance premium at his discretion if he wishes.

How does indexation work in practice? If the index increases by 3% or more, the next payment order will include a proposal to index the contract. Indexation is carried out automatically by the program as soon as the insured pays the indexed insurance premium.

hen accepting an insurance application from a client, the insurer conducts underwriting (i.e., an assessment of a particular insurance risk). This is necessary to substantiate the decision to accept or reject a given risk, as well as to possibly correct the conditions for accepting it for insurance. One of the important criteria for assessing the risk of death is whether the insured person has a particular disease. The source of information for underwriting is the data specified in the insurance applications. They contain questions about the potential client's health over the past five years. Risk premiums, exclusion of certain tariffs, or denial of insurance are made based on calculations proposed by the medical risk assessment program of the leading reinsurance company Münchener Rückversicherung AG (Munich Re). The program calculates by how many percent the risk of death increases in the presence of certain diseases.

Which program should be recommended to the insured, with an emphasis on insurance protection or with an emphasis on accumulation? The programs "GRAWE UKRAINE Life Insurance" are divided into less and more risky. The first include "Invest Plan" (accumulation tariff without additional risk tariffs), "GRAWE Master" (without additional death risk tariff), SEP (with additional death risk tariff, the sum insured for which is less than the sum insured for life). It is they that the company can offer in case a person has a certain disease. Other programs, such as "GRAWE Classic", "GRAWE Classic Plus", "GRAWE Universal" and "Junior Extra", are programs with a larger number of risk tariffs and, accordingly, are more related to the health of the insured.

If the insured is seriously ill, then under certain circumstances it is possible to purchase a program without additional risk tariffs and with certain charges and surcharges.

Speaking about payment terms, it should be noted that according to the legislation of our country, up to 90 days are allotted for processing an insurance payment. We do it much faster, especially in cases where the beneficiary independently provides all the documents necessary for making an appropriate decision and we do not have to make additional requests to state institutions and then wait for a response.

• Within three to four days from the moment Grave informs about the insured event, we send the beneficiary a letter of condolence and a list of documents necessary for receiving an insurance payment. Their collection is the responsibility of the above-mentioned person. However, we can ourselves make inquiries to medical institutions and the Ministry of Internal Affairs if the person is unable to provide these documents for a good reason.

• After receiving all the necessary documents, within a maximum of 15 working days, we send the beneficiary an insurance certificate for payment, which indicates the total amount of the insurance payment.

• The beneficiary confirms by signature that the insurer - "GRAVE UKRAINE Life Insurance" - will fully fulfill its obligations towards him as soon as the insurance payment is transferred to his bank account.

• After receiving the signed act, the payment is made to the beneficiary within 15 working days. 

At the moment, GRAWE UKRAINE Life Insurance offers two additional tariffs in case of permanent disability due to an accident:

• Additional insurance in case of permanent disability from 50% with subsequent exemption from paying insurance premiums. (UI50P)
• Additional insurance in case of complete permanent 100% disability. (UI100)

Please note that the insurance amount for disability is paid exclusively to the insured person - a disabled person. The degree of disability is determined by independent highly qualified Austrian expert doctors, certified by the court.

Before answering the question of how the degree of disability is determined, it would be advisable to define the terms by which we describe its various types.

Temporary disability - disability, which is established for the period of active treatment and provides for full or partial restoration of working capacity. The insured person who has received an injury, undergoes a stage of active treatment for some time. Most often, at this time, his ability to act is more limited than in subsequent periods. It is quite possible that at the initial stage of therapy, disability can be determined as one hundred percent. However, this does not mean that in the future the situation will not change for the better and its degree will not decrease. That is why, to determine the objective degree of disability, an examination is carried out one year after the insured event, usually after the completion of the course of treatment and rehabilitation. This rule does not work if complete permanent disability can be unambiguously established immediately after the injury. For example, if a person loses both legs, disability after the end of treatment will remain 100% and insurance payment will be made immediately after receiving the necessary documents.

Permanent disability is a disability whose degree does not change during treatment, usually determined after one year after the insured event.

Complete disability is a disability with a degree of 100%.

As a subsidiary of an Austrian insurance company, we use in our practice the insurance traditions of Western Europe, in particular our parent company. According to Austrian law, the assessment of the degree of disability can only be carried out by an independent doctor admitted by the court, an expert of the highest category. We send all medical documents on the insured event to Austria, where they are translated into German and submitted for examination to determine the degree of disability.

There are different situations in people's lives. For some, the financial situation improves during the term of the insurance contract, while for others it worsens. That is why the company "GRAWE UKRAINE Life Insurance" provides its clients with the opportunity to change (increase or decrease) the amount of the insurance premium. In the event of an increase or decrease in the amount of the insurance premium, the amount of the insured sum is also recalculated (respectively, increase or decrease). The amount of the insurance premium cannot be less than the established amount of the minimum annual insurance premium. Its change can be made only from the next insurance year. The amounts of previously paid and already credited insurance premiums are not subject to change.

The client can choose to pay in installments, i.e. change the payment method of the insurance premium from annual to semi-annual or quarterly. In this case, the amount of the insurance premium increases by 2% in the case of semi-annual payment and by 4% in the case of quarterly payment.

In case of deterioration of the financial situation, the client has the opportunity to convert his insurance contract into a premium-free insurance contract with the corresponding recalculation of the insurance benefits. In this case, he is released from the obligation to pay premiums, and the insurance company is released from the obligation to pay insurance amounts at all additional insurance tariffs. In addition, the contract may be converted into a premium-free insurance contract by the insurance company unilaterally in the event of the client’s failure to pay the next insurance premium. Both the client and the insurance company can use this opportunity if there is a redemption amount under this insurance contract.

Starting from the second year of insurance, all insurance payments are increased by the amount of accumulated bonus reserves received from the placement of insurance reserve funds. Only the main insurance tariff participates in the bonus reserves, additional insurance tariffs do not participate.

Upon expiration of the insurance contract, the client can choose either a lump sum insurance payment or a payment in the form of a pension option (annuity). Insurance amounts in the event of survival, at the client's request, can be paid out in a lump sum or in equal installments (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually) for a specified period (10, 15, 20 or more years) or for life.

The “GRAWE UKRAINE Life Insurance” programs are available in two currencies. That is, the amount of insurance sums and insurance premiums agreed in the contract can be determined both in the national currency of Ukraine and in dollar equivalent. The client independently chooses the currency of the insurance contract when concluding the insurance contract.
Each insurance currency - both hryvnia and US dollar - has its own advantages. Contracts whose monetary obligations are expressed in US dollars are interesting because they preserve the real value of the invested capital both in the event of death or disability and in the event of payment after the expiration of their term. Hryvnia contracts are interesting because they have a significantly higher percentage of bonus remuneration than those whose monetary obligations are expressed in US dollars.

Attention! Payment of insurance premiums and payment of insurance sums under contracts whose monetary obligations are expressed in US dollars are made in hryvnia at the NBU exchange rate on the day of payment or payment.