TPD Claim Home Duties - devastating experience
I took out this policy believing it would protect my family and me if I could no longer perform the essential responsibilities of running a household — as clearly explained by the advisor at the time. I’ve since suffered permanent vision loss due to an incurable, high-risk condition that requires ongoing medication and monitoring to prevent complete blindness. The impact on my day-to-day function is profound, unpredictable, and permanent.
Despite this, the insurer insists on a rigid, in-person assessment by a third-party examiner with no ongoing clinical relationship to me, no trauma-informed framework, and no recognition of the compounding psychological and physical effects of visual disability in a caregiving environment. No remote or desktop options were offered — not even during a period when my child was undergoing life-threatening cancer treatment. Treating specialist reports were ignored.
Most concerning is how the insurer interprets the policy wording. It appears that under their view of “home duties,” your claim could be rejected if you are physically capable of grasping a mop or scooping detergent powder — regardless of whether you can do so safely, consistently, or in a way that reflects the real-world responsibilities the policy was supposedly designed to protect.
This narrow, task-based interpretation completely undermines the purpose of the cover. It shifts the focus away from meaningful function and toward isolated, token actions — effectively rendering the policy meaningless unless you’re in a vegetative state.
This is precisely the kind of insurer behaviour the Financial Services Royal Commission sought to address. Yet, based on my experience, it is clear that the industry — and this insurer in particular — still falls well short of government and public expectations for fairness, empathy, and accountability. Legal and regulatory reforms may be on the books, but they are not yet embedded in practice.
I paid high premiums in good faith. What I’ve encountered instead is a system designed to protect the insurer, not the insured. My strong advice to others is:
• Do not rely on sales assurances.
• Get every clause explained and in writing.
• Understand that even clear disability and permanent loss may not be enough.
• Ask what they actually mean by “home duties” — and prepare to be shocked.
This experience has been distressing, disempowering, and, in my view, a betrayal of what income and life protection should stand for.