APRA’s Life Insurance Claims and Disputes Statistics publication presents the key industry and entity-level claims and disputes outcomes for 20 Australian life insurers writing direct business (i.e. excluding reinsurance).
ASIC’s MoneySmart has been updated with the latest data. The online tool compares insurers across cover types and distribution channels on four metrics – the percentage of claims accepted, the length of time taken to pay claims, the number of disputes and the policy cancellation rates. In the first month the tool was available, 4716 consumers undertook 19,519 comparisons.
The admittance rate by cover type and channel for the 12 months to December 2018:
| Individual Advised | Individual Non-Advised | Group Super | Group Ordinary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover Type | % admitted | % admitted | % admitted | % admitted |
| Death | 96% | 88% | 98% | 99% |
| TPD ^ | 87% | 59% | 88% | 68% |
| Trauma | 87% | 87% | n/a | 100% |
| DII ^ | 95% | 85% | 96% | 95% |
| CCI ^ | n/a | 89% | n/a | * |
| Funeral | n/a | 99% | n/a | n/a |
| Accident | 19% | 82% | n/a | n/a |
(* In this publication, Group Ordinary CCI is masked as there was only one provider of this product, which reported fewer than 50 finalised claims).
| Cover type | Individual Advised | Individual Non-Advised | Group Super | Group Ordinary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death | 39% | 32% | 78% | 61% |
| TPD | 45% | 28% | 71% | 25% |
| Trauma | 62% | 40% | n/a | 94% |
| DII # | 66% | 85% | 104% | 81% |
| CCI | n/a | 26% | n/a | * |
| Funeral | n/a | 23% | n/a | n/a |
| Accident | 25% | 51% | n/a | n/a |
(# DII has recurring monthly payments. For the purposes of the reported claims ratio, total payments are approximated using an average 24-month payout period).
