Damien Mu: I think there’s an opportunity for us to work more closely to standardise the sharing of information. Obviously that claimant or beneficiary would need to sign the relevant disclosures and consent forms but there’s got to be a more efficient way in which we can communicate that information. We might be able to remove the employer statement but can we completely remove the WorkCover claim form? Probably not. So how can we share that information more readily? The discussion went on to lament the fact that even though insurers came up with standard policy takeover terms for retail cover 15 years ago, there were still no standard terms for group cover policies, which created uncertainty around some claims. The problem of claimants doubling-up their insurance cover, perhaps unaware they had a policy through their superannuation, was also raised.

The problem was predicted to increase as more funds offered income protection insurance as a default. However, it emerged that there was an industry standard for the payment of benefits to such claimants, albeit a little known one. CommInsure’s Arleen Hatton said that whichever application was concluded first would be the one paid out first. In the case of death or TPD claims, all the policies were likely to be paid out in full, while for income protection, the ‘surplus’ policy might be paid in the form of ‘offsets’ into the claimant’s superannuation, to ensure they were not receiving more than 75 per cent of their take-home wage as up-front benefits. The conversation then wended its way back to the vital importance of the ‘front-line’ claims manager. Peter Lewis: Kelly, have you considered the welfare of your own staff dealing with these claims and these emotional people almost constantly? I know from the person within our company who looks after their claims on the claims committee, that they can be quite emotionally distraught and need assistance emotionally from time to time because of that, and they end up dealing with death all day, every day.

How do you deal with that? Kelly Cantwell: We have policies in place where we have buddies, and an environment where if it’s too much, go for a walk, go and get a cup of coffee. They’re not questioned, it’s not like, ‘Get back to your desk’, they don’t have red boards flashing or anything like that. So it’s important for us as a management team to create the environment where they feel comfortable, and I think that’s the most important. We have to nearly reprogram a lot of people who come in because – especially if they’ve worked in a call centre before – it’s all about the numbers. So we try and reprogram. We do buddies, so if a claims person is stressed, the buddy can tap them on the shoulder and go and have a cup of coffee with them. We’ve got a good coffee machine at HOSTPLUS. Part of the hospitality industry. Arleen Hatton: As someone once said, the underwriters are the gatekeepers of the insurance, but the claims people are the window to the company, and the window is what the public see. Colin Cassidy: They are what the trustee board sees too, because they only get involved in insurance at a claims stage. When they see a claim gets denied, and that’s when the insurance company comes on show. That’s when they review the correspondence, review the decision and if the decision is right, the board is happy. If they don’t think the decision is right you can spend a million dollars on marketing your image, but one decision could pull it down. So, the claims people play, to me, the most important part of keeping a relationship going between the insurer and the fund.