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Cover the kids

Parents who have children in childcare can now take out insurance to cover the cost of childcare when their children are too sick to attend. The occasional childcare centres do not tend to forgo payment if a child is too sick to attend. Unfortunately, the majority will charge even though the child was not present. For some parents this can be very expensive, especially if the parent is also forced to take unpaid time off work to care for the child.

A remedy to this problem is Kids Cover.

Basically, Kids Cover is an affordable insurance policy designed to give financial relief to Australian parents with children under five, attending full or part time accredited childcare. Kids Cover reimburses you the cost of your childcare fees (less the Government Child Care Benefit) when your child is too sick or injured to attend day care for more than three consecutive days.

Kids Cover is the brainchild of single mum Jane King, the founder of the baby expo company, Parenting Australia. Jane explained that she realised through her own personal experience that parents often need help to pay childcare fees when they have to take time off work to care for sick children. "When you are trying to work, and you have young children in childcare and they are unwell, it gets very expensive," Ms King said.

The daily cost of childcare in Sydney ranges from $70 to $120, depending on the child-care centre. Jane King says, “I have met with thousands of parents, and a common denominator of their more pressing problems is that they struggle to pay fees when their kids are sick and they are losing days at work. And you must pay the fees to keep the place. I thought, wouldn't it be great if there was some kind of insurance around that covered that gap." Ms King took her proposal to Telstra Businesswoman of the Year, Carole-Anne Priest, chief executive of Altiora Insurance Solutions. In no time Kids Cover was introduced to the market.  

Kids Cover has been welcomed by parenting groups, who believe it will ease the burden for working parents. Early Childhood Australia vice-president, Ros Cornish, said families would be relieved. "Many children who enter childcare do pick up a lot of bugs," she said. "When you are looking at a child who could be off sick for over a week, then if I was a parent, I would take it out." Jane says “We are getting strong interest from employers, with the current skills shortage, Kids Cover is an incentive that some employers will offer as part of the package, it would be tax deductable in that instance”.

Kids Cover costs $61 a year if your child care fees are under $200 a week, and $91 a year if they are more than $200 a week. There’s a maximum payout of $20,000 per single claim. Claims are made with the provision a doctor's certificate.

For a 3 day consecutive days deferral period Kids Cover will cost $61per annum if you pay up to $200 per week in childcare fees and $91 per annum if you pay over $200 per week. For a 2 day consecutive days deferral period Kids Cover will cost $120pa if you pay up to $200 per week in childcare fees and $170 per annum if you pay over $200 per week.

Keep in mind, though, that Kids Cover will not insure against a pre-existing condition such as asthma.

Best idea: apply on line before your kids get sick, www.kidscover.com.au

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