{"id":75059,"date":"2024-12-10T12:09:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T02:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=75059"},"modified":"2024-12-11T06:13:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T20:13:07","slug":"tpd-claims-for-mental-health-jump-up-to-700","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2024\/12\/10\/tpd-claims-for-mental-health-jump-up-to-700\/","title":{"rendered":"TPD Claims for Mental Health Jump Up to 700%"},"content":{"rendered":"

An “alarming” number of Australians in their 30s are leaving the workforce permanently because of their mental health, according to new research commissioned by CALI.<\/p>\n

The council says the Australia\u2019s Mental Health Check Up<\/em><\/a> report by KPMG \u201c\u2026shows there\u2019s been an unprecedented 732% in Total and Permanent Disability claims for mental health for 30-to 40-year-olds over the past decade. It is the biggest spike across all age groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Christine Cupitt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CALI CEO Christine Cupitt<\/strong> says the unprecedented number of people leaving the workforce permanently in the prime of their working life has huge implications for them personally, for their loved ones, for the national economy and for stretched government support systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are very concerning generational trends that show the frequency and severity of mental ill-health is rising exponentially in our community. No one wants this to be their story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Australia\u2019s Mental Health Check Up<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The data shows Australians are leaving the workforce for good because of mental ill-health at a younger age than before, with the average age of people who claim now 46 years old. The average was around 49 years a decade ago.<\/p>\n

CALI says by comparison, the average age for other physical causes of permanent disability claim has remained stable at 49 years of age over the same timeframe.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Australia\u2019s Mental Health Check Up<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe research also shows men are more likely to be classed as permanently unable to work because of mental ill-health with an almost 60% higher claims rate compared to women.\u201d<\/p>\n

CALI says life insurers are the largest private sector provider of financial support to people experiencing mental health challenges, second only to the Federal Government.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re helping people every day and will continue to sustainably play our part. Australia\u2019s life insurers are investing more than ever in this kind of data so we can share it with the community and show just how significant the impacts of mental ill-health are on Australians,” says Cupitt.<\/p>\n

CALI notes too that almost 80% of the overall increase in the number of permanent disability claims over the past decade is due to the exponential increase in mental health claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have gone up by almost 10% every year while the rate for other physical causes of claim has only increased by half a percent annually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cupitt says that at the end of the day \u201c\u2026it\u2019s Australian taxpayers who\u2019ll be footing the bill if these trends continue as government safety nets and payments are stretched beyond capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

…life insurers fear this unprecedented rise could have a flow on effect on the affordability of life insurance…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CALI states that Australia\u2019s life insurers fear this unprecedented rise could have a flow on effect on the affordability of life insurance and the ability of insurers to provide meaningful cover for what is a rapidly growing number of people who are severely incapacitated by mental ill-health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is far bigger than us. While governments are already thinking seriously about Australians\u2019 mental health, we now have further evidence that our community needs more including a stronger and earlier safety net to keep people from falling through the cracks,\u201d Cupitt says.<\/p>\n

…This can\u2019t just be left to private industry to manage once people are at the end of the road…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis can\u2019t just be left to private industry to manage once people are at the end of the road. No one wants to find themselves severely unwell with no other option than to make the life changing decision to leave the workforce permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Trevor Battersby<\/strong> the Director and Founder of TPD Claims Support Services, told Riskinfo<\/em> that while the rise in mental health stats is not surprising, it is alarming and his firm has been inundated with mental health claims post Covid.<\/p>\n

He notes that while the TPD definitions remain the same, the \u201cpermanency\u201d is the part most clients or planners need to focus on when preparing a submission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe insurer is looking to assess the permanency of the mental health condition and unlike a physical condition you cannot simply do an ECG or an x-ray and identify fairly quickly, or assess, the severity and permanency,” he says.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to read the full report. CALI notes data relates to retail life insurance policies and doesn’t cover policies obtained through superannuation funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An “alarming” number of Australians in their 30s are leaving the workforce permanently because of their mental health, according to new research commissioned by CALI. The council says the Australia\u2019s Mental Health Check Up report by KPMG \u201c\u2026shows there\u2019s been an unprecedented 732% in Total and Permanent Disability claims for mental health for 30-to 40-year-olds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":75106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-75059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-associations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}