Disability dilemmas put off insurer

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Disability insurance is the most contentious, difficult and costly to manage personal insurance product,  one New Zealand insurer says.

Wednesday, June 19th 2013, 7:05AM 1 Comment

Pinnacle Life’s Ed Saul was responding to calls across the Tasman for forensic testing on mental health disability claims.

Kelly Wilson, president and director of forensic services at Psy Barr, spoke at reinsurance firm RGA’s seminar in Sydney recently.

She said a forensic approach, using psychological testing, was better placed to offer evidence on whether claimants were sufficiently disabled to qualify for an insurance claim.

Saul said Pinnacle had stayed away from disability because the extent of a person’s disability was hard to prove or disprove. “This often leads to contest from both the insurer and the insured at the time of claim… it’s not like a death claim where the insured is either dead or alive.”

He said there had been a surge in disability claims and insurance companies were struggling to manage them, which was driving up the price of disability insurance.

“We believe any new diagnostic procedures that can be used practically and easily to validate a disability claim will be good for both the insured and the insurance company.”

Pinnacle Life would consider a disability product if there was evidence-based assessment available that worked as needed

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