{"id":81813,"date":"2026-03-31T18:01:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=81813"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:44:46","slug":"latest-poll-insuring-episodic-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/03\/31\/latest-poll-insuring-episodic-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Poll &#8211; Insuring Episodic Disability"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"polls-362\" class=\"wp-polls\">\n\t\t<div class=\"pollHeader\"><strong>Insurers should develop new product solutions which better cater to total disability conditions which are episodic in nature.<\/strong><\/div><div id=\"polls-362-ans\" class=\"wp-polls-ans\"><ul class=\"wp-polls-ul\">\n\t\t<li>Agree <small>(79%)<\/small><div class=\"pollbar\" style=\"width: 79%\" title=\"Agree (79% | 45 Votes)\"><\/div><\/li>\n\t\t<li>Disagree <small>(14%)<\/small><div class=\"pollbar\" style=\"width: 14%\" title=\"Disagree (14% | 8 Votes)\"><\/div><\/li>\n\t\t<li>Not sure <small>(7%)<\/small><div class=\"pollbar\" style=\"width: 7%\" title=\"Not sure (7% | 4 Votes)\"><\/div><\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul><div style=\"text-align: center\"><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" id=\"poll_362_nonce\" name=\"wp-polls-nonce\" value=\"5b260d30fc\" \/>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Our latest poll is seeking your take on an emerging conversation around how best to offer insurance cover for those suffering mental health issues &#8211; many of which are episodic in nature, together with other episodic disability types.<\/p>\n<p>The dilemma of the surging incidence of mental illness in our Australian community and the equally alarming surge in mental health-related TPD claims continues to challenge some of the best minds in the industry as it collectively seeks a workable solution that will appropriately offer cover to those who need it while maintaining a viable and sustainable life insurance sector.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;while there was general agreement that product change was needed &#8230;it became equally apparent that the ability to deliver such solutions was far from simple.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Elements of this dilemma were debated at the <a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/roundtable\/zurich-sustainability-round-table-mapping-the-pathway-to-industry-sustainability-part-4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zurich Sustainability Round Table<\/a>, where it became clear that while there was general agreement that product change was needed &#8211; such as developing lower-premium policies offering staged benefit payments for episodic total disability &#8211; it became equally apparent that the ability to deliver such solutions was far from simple.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_81817\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-81817\" style=\"width: 2409px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-81817\" src=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2409\" height=\"1806\" srcset=\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll.jpg 2409w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-2048x1535.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-696x522.jpg 696w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-1068x801.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-1920x1439.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-560x420.jpg 560w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-80x60.jpg 80w, https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2026\/03\/260331-Latest-Poll-265x198.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2409px) 100vw, 2409px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-81817\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sydney-based adviser, Kristen Agius, shares her view with Zurich Sustainability Round Table panellists around whether she can have confidence recommending new-style TPD offers &#8211; if and when launched into the market &#8211; without any certainty around the extent or scale of potential future premium increases&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Our panel shared two cautionary views in relation to the above scenario, one of which related to client best interest issues &#8211; &#8216;What if my client would also have been eligible to make a successful claim under the comprehensive benefit TPD offers which exist today&#8230;?<\/p>\n<p>The other dampener related to a concern that such lower-priced product offers would still potentially be subject to excessive base premium increases over time, thereby eroding any cost of living\/economic benefit a client may see as attractive in opting for a lower-priced but more restricted benefit offer.<\/p>\n<p>This is just the start of a complex discussion as we hand the baton to Riskinfo readers to continue the conversation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our latest poll is seeking your take on an emerging conversation around how best to offer insurance cover for those suffering mental health issues &#8211; many of which are episodic in nature, together with other episodic disability types. The dilemma of the surging incidence of mental illness in our Australian community and the equally alarming [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8294,8,241,49,5121],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-claims","8":"category-compliance-regulation","9":"category-conferences-and-events","10":"category-polls","11":"category-sustainability"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81813","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81813"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81821,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81813\/revisions\/81821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}