Now you can insure Mum for unpaid work

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Any mum will tell you that there's nothing worse than being injured with a family depending on you. Too often mums are expected to soldier on, injured: doing the shopping, laundry, cooking and caring for kids.

That 1.2 million women over 18 were injured so badly in the past six months they weren't able to clean their own house has been taken on board by insurer Suncorp. It has come up with a new sort of insurance called Million Dollar Woman. It helps cover women's day-to-day living costs while they are laid up. It also offers insurance cover for accidental injury, serious illness, plus, if the worst happens, death cover for those left behind.

A unique feature of Million Dollar Woman is the limited accident insurance for mothers' unpaid work so they are paid a set amount that allows them to afford to hire a cleaner, childcare, have shopping delivered, laundry and meals.

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Called Day-to-Day Living Expenses Cover, it is available for $2.50 a day or $912.50 a year and will pay out up to $900 a week for up to 13 weeks each time you are sick or injured. You can reduce your premium by taking on less insurance. And unlike health insurance, the money goes directly to you to spend on whatever you like. The carer would be paid if their doctor assessed them as being unable to perform two of five jobs including laundry, cooking, cleaning and childcare.

A 14-day waiting period applies from the date you first visited your doctor. Payments are generally made fortnightly in arrears. You are able to claim multiple times while your cover is active however a maximum limit of $25,000 applies.

"For more than a century, products have been offered that cater for the main income earner of a household, typically men, if they get sick or injured," explains the CEO of Million Dollar Woman, Lynette Argent. "This has never been offered in Australia before."

Million Dollar Woman also covers single women, part-time workers, full-time workers and even grandmothers looking after grandchildren. It welcomes men too. You can also cover your kids. The insurance provides a lump-sum payment if your child suffers a particular accident or illness or fracture so you can be with them as they recover.

For more information visit milliondollarwoman.com.au.

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Susan has been a finance journalist for more than 30 years, beginning at the Australian Financial Review before moving to the Sydney Morning Herald. She edited a superannuation magazine, Superfunds, for the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, and writes regularly on superannuation and managed funds. She's also author of the best-selling book Women and Money.