When buying life insurance you’re often content knowing that, if you should pass away unexpectedly, your insurance company will step in and financially support your loved ones. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
This article explores ways you can increase your control and certainty of your policy paying out.
Earlier this year , on the 16th of March 2016, it was alleged that CommInsure, the insurance arm of The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), used unscrupulous tactics to delay and avoid benefit payments in the hope that policy holders would be discouraged to continue their pursuit. “Allegations relating to CommInsure include missing medical records, file tampering, doctors being leaned on by claims managers to change their opinions, cherry picking of doctors to get the desired outcomes, policies that include in the fine print out-of-date medical definitions and excessive and unfair claims delays”, wrote Adele Ferguson, business columnist.
The very people you relied upon to protect your family, should worst come to worst, might be actively trying to avoid this responsibility. But, should such an enormous responsibility lay squarely on your insurer’s shoulders? Surely, the person taking out the policy has some control.
“During a hearing of the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services on Wednesday, ASIC deputy Peter Kell said it was ‘his understanding” that none of the alleged victims in the scandal had received advice from a financial adviser’, wrote Linda Santacruz, reporter for the Independent Financial Adviser (ifa).
Indeed, most the policyholders were provided cover from their superfunds and had not taken appropriate steps to buy their insurance from a specialist, independently owned insurance adviser. As customers, you need to do more to investigate insurance policies before you make a purchase and switch providers and/or policies when it becomes necessary for you to do so.
Don’t assume your insurance in super is adequate or has appropriate medical and claims definitions. Many policies have a number of short comings that only a specialist would be able to identify for you. Do you know what’s happening in your superannuation fund?
Ask an Expert?