automatically accepted for cover under this policy without the need to satisfy Sovereign of the child’s good health. If a child is added to the policy after the first three months after he or she is born, Sovereign will require health information about that child .
- if self-employed, experiences a 30% reduction in revenue (by comparing one month’s revenue against the same month for the previous year),
provided that:
> you notify Sovereign within three months of one of the above listed suspension events occurring and provide evidence to Sovereign of the suspension event; and
Your premium will increase for each life assured added to this policy.
You can remove a life assured from your policy at any time by giving Sovereign notice in writing.
> Sovereign acknowledges in writing receipt of that notification.
Adjusting your excess
Where cover is suspended in one of the circumstances described above, no premium for the particular life assured , or for all lives assured , is payable during the period of suspension and no cover will be provided for any claim event for that life assured or lives assured during the period of suspension. Cover for that life assured or the lives assured under this policy will be reinstated provided the premium is paid when the nominated period of suspension ends or within the maximum time periods described, whichever comes first.
You may request Sovereign to change the excess applicable to your policy.
Sovereign is under no obligation to agree to reduce the excess unless we are satisfied that the lives assured are in good health.
The lives assured may be required to provide further health information before we agree to reduce the excess .
A change in the excess will result in a change to your premium .
Transfer of ownership
Any change in your excess and your premium will start from the date notified to you in writing by Sovereign.
You may transfer the ownership of your policy at any time. To be valid the transfer must be on a transfer of ownership form and registered with us. If ownership of your policy has been transferred, references in this policy document to you, your and the policy owner(s) are references to the most recent transferee(s).
Upgrading from Private Health Cover to Private Health Plus
You may apply at any time to Sovereign to upgrade from Private Health Cover to Private Health Plus.
A trust cannot be the policy owner of this policy. No charge is payable for a transfer of ownership of the policy.
Sovereign is not obliged to agree to a change from Private Health Cover to Private Health Plus unless it is satisfied that each life assured is in good health. The assessment of a life assured ’ s good health is based on the health information provided about that life assured . If Sovereign deems it necessary to obtain further information beyond that provided in the application form, about a potential life assured’s good health, Sovereign may require a report from a registered medical practitioner to confirm or clarify the extent of any existing health conditions.
When can Sovereign change the terms of this policy?
It is Sovereign’s business practice to review this policy over its lifetime. This is to ensure it continues to provide cover for current medical treatments for common medical conditions at the time. It is also to ensure the insurance product remains commercially viable for Sovereign. Any changes to the terms of this policy will apply across all lives assured with the same policy. Sovereign will not make any changes to the terms of an individual policy owner’s policy (except for age related premium increases based on the existing schedule of premium rates) without the policy owner’s consent. The following are examples of circumstances when Sovereign may wish to change the terms of this policy across all policy owners :
Suspension of cover
You may request a suspension of cover for a life assured under this policy:
> for up to 24 months if they travel overseas for a period of up to twenty-four months; or
> for up to 12 months if the policy owner :
> To increase the level of benefits under the policy or to add new benefits.
- becomes unemployed or redundant;
- goes on leave without pay for any reason;
> To move all lives assured to a refreshed policy document with a new drafting style/layout and similar levels of benefits.
- experiences at least a 20% reduction in pay (comparing the most recent payslip against a previous payslip from the same year); or
> To take account of changes in the laws in New Zealand.
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712 PH-UMB version 9 Effective 8 April 2022
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