APRA data confirms value of life/risk advice

The value of obtaining total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance via a life/risk adviser has been reinforced by the latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) Life Insurance Claims and Disputes statistics.

The data, released today, reveals that when it comes to claims admittance rates, individual advised TPD rates at 82% compared to 64% for non-advised. This, in turn, compares to 89% for group super.

A similar pattern emerges for disability income insurance (DII) with individual advised delivering an admittance rate of 95% while non-advised delivered 89%.

The APRA data covering a rolling 12 month period from 1 July, last year, to 30 June, this year, noted that the admittance rate across all cover types and all distribution channels was 93%.

The APRA analysis noted that, “generally, Individual Advised business shows higher admittance rates than Individual Non- Advised for the same cover type”.

“This could be due to the policyholder having clearer expectations up front of what is covered by the product, or (related to the previous point) the adviser discouraging the policyholder from lodging a claim that is not covered by the policy,” it said.

“The exception is Individual Advised Accident, which has an unusually low admittance rate. However, the number of observations is quite small (15 finalised claims, versus 2,899 for Non-Advised).”