Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has committed to improving its understanding of mental health conditions.
In addition to holding mental health roundtables, it is exploring avenues for new research into the drivers of mental illness and resilience to improve its underwriting, claims, and prevention services.
Justin Delaney, CEO, Zurich says: “Zurich is continuing to witness the rising and profound impact of mental health conditions across our diverse customer base, with up to a quarter of applications now including mental health disclosures and more than two thirds of claims relating to mental health conditions for some products.”
The firm’s commitment to researching the issue is in addition to several initiatives Zurich has started based on feedback from roundtable attendees.
“Zurich’s Mental Health Roundtable provides an important opportunity for the broader mental health ecosystem to collaborate, exchange views and share data to drive continued progress in addressing this growing issue,” says Delaney.
“Ultimately ensuring we can provide greater levels of cover to more Australians.”
The second Zurich Mental Health Roundtable, held in February 2025, was attended by representatives from Black Dog Institute, Lifeline Australia, Gotcha4Life Foundation, Bupa and Mandala Partners.
There is an elephant in the room in this discussion on increases in mental health claims and it relates to TPD. Everyone knows the definitionon for both any occupation and own occupation TPD strongly feature use of the word "permanent".
I'm not a psychiatrist nor am I any other form of mental health professional but I know a few of these practitioners. I keep asking them is it possible to certify that, with a couple of rare severe exceptions, that someone with a mental health condition such as anxiety or depression can be classified by an insurer as being "permanently disabled". The answer is nearly always "no, they can't"
So why are insurers paying TPD claims for mental health conditions when it is highly unlikely that the medical evidence to hand will state that the condition is "permanent."
Paying TPD claims when the mental health condition is not permanent will only have one outcome – increased TPD premiums.
Comments are closed.