TPD Mental Health Claims – What Advisers Say

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The rising number of TPD mental health claims is due mainly to greater social acceptance of those suffering mental health conditions.
  • Agree (58%)
  • Disagree (30%)
  • Not sure (12%)

The adviser community appears divided on whether the rising number of TPD mental health claims is mainly due to greater social acceptance of those in the community suffering mental health conditions.

As we go to press just over six in 10 respondents (61%) to our latest poll are in agreement that this is the primary reason behind the surge in mental health TPD claims.

However nearly four in 10 either disagree (27%) or are not sure (12%).

…the challenge for claims case managers to objectively assess the merits of many mental illness TPD claims is almost impossible…

As we noted last week, while the challenge for claims case managers to objectively assess the merits of many mental illness TPD claims is almost impossible – therein leading to the need to incorporate subjective assessment – this does not seem to have dampened the volume of what the insurers report to be a growing proportion of TPD claims that are subjective in their nature.

This poll arose from our recent TPD Round Table which considered how the ‘normalisation’ of mental illness within the Australian narrative appears to have subsequently opened the door to more claims – certainly for income protection insurance – and probably for TPD claims as well. (See ‘Normalisation’ of Mental Illness Causing TPD Conflict).

Our poll remains open for another week and we welcome your views…



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1 COMMENT

  1. Australia has a larger problem then just the TPD payout on mental health. We need to look at the way mental health is managed by the health system. Throwing medication at people is not working and is not the sole solution. Treatment plans need to include an exercise plan, a nutrition plan and a psychologist plan as part of the treatment plan. Maybe this is where insurers can lead the change by including within their IP policies benefits to pay for a multi pillared approach to treating mental health while on IP claim so the client has a better chance of recovery instead of continuing to get worse and trigger a TPD claim.

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