Claims data published by Acenda shows the firm, while trading as MLC Life Insurance, paid more than $1.1bn in claims last year to 8,849 customers and their families.
Claims paid by the firm include:
- 1,099 Life Cover
- 1,072 TPD
- 596 Critical Illness
- 5,753 Income Protection
Making up the top five claims accepted by the firm for the year were cancer (25%), mental illness (18%), muskuloskeletal 13%, cardiovascular 11%, and accidents 10%.
Turning specifically to life cover claims, cancer came top at 42%, cardiovascular accounted for 18% of claims, and accidents 11%.
Cancer also topped the critical illness claims (58%), with mental illness making up 32% of claims made under IP policies, and 27% under TPD.
Andrew Beevors, the firm’s Chief Claims & Transformation Officer, says last year’s cancer claims likely reflects a lack of diagnostics carried out during the covid years followed a post-pandemic catch up.
“Figures are returning to industry norms,” he said.
However, he notes the uptick in claims for mental health saying this trend partly reflects the pressures of modern life.
“For many people this is the toughest time they have faced financially,” he says.
“Historic economic prosperity has not prepared a large cohort of Australians to deal with setbacks in their lives.
“There is greater awareness now that shows 30 years of uninterrupted prosperity has had a negative impact on societal resilience.
…it’s your brain that’s more likely to be injured than your body…
“In addition, over the last 20 to 30 years our economy has progressively gone from blue collar orientated to white collar. It means it’s your brain that’s more likely to be injured than your body.”
He says Acenda has focused on meeting the needs of mental health support by improving personalised services to customers.
“It still remains concerning that 18 percent of our customers are having difficulty with mental illness,” he says.
The following info-graphic has been shared by Acenda…
