POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Self-regulation not adequate for life insurers
Key mental health body beyondblue has warned that it is not confident that enough safeguards are in place to allow life insurers to participate in the rehabilitation of workers to assist their return to the workforce.
In an answer to a question on notice from a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry, beyondblue said it continued to have concerns about the involvement of life insurers in the rehabilitation process, notwithstanding the clarification provided by the Financial Services Council (FSC) representing the major life insurers.
It said that any approach allowing such involvement by the life insurers would require appropriate architecture, implementation and monitoring with careful design “in genuine partnership with consumer representatives and experts”.
“Moreover, in light of the findings and recommendations of the Committee’s recent inquiry into the life insurance industry, beyondblue is not confident that self-regulation would safeguard this intended design,” the beyondblue answer said.
However, it said these concerns might be significantly addressed through the design of a model that structurally separated payment and administration functions.
“For example, life insurers could contribute funds to an independent entity who would triage claims, facilitate evidence-based treatment and rehabilitation and administer the payments to policy holders,” the answer said.
Elsewhere in its submission, beyondblue argued that people affected by mental health conditions had experienced significant difficulties in obtaining and claiming on different types of insurance products when compared to the rest of the population.
“People report poor experiences with many different insurers across the life insurance industry for products such as income protection, total and permanent disability (TPD), and life insurance, indicating that this is a systemic issue,” it said.
“This significantly diminishes the power of someone with a mental health condition to ‘shop around’ to obtain appropriate coverage and can result in people feeling that they have no option but to accept insurance on terms they consider to be unfair.”
Recommended for you
The insurance company has joined this year’s awards as a principal partner.
The $135 billion fund has transitioned away from TAL Life Insurance following an “extensive tender process”.
The $80 billion fund is facing legal action over allegedly signing up new members to income protection insurance by default without active member consent.
In a Senate submission, the Financial Services Council has once again called for further clarification that the government will assess the consumer outcomes of group insurance against the enshrined objective of superannuation.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI Second Close
61.07 3 y p.a(%)
2
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI First Close USD
59.21 3 y p.a(%)
3
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.56 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
31.06 3 y p.a(%)
5
DomaCom 4/27 Crombie Avenue Bundall QLD 4217 Australia
26.81 3 y p.a(%)
