Michael PurvisA newly released industry-wide analysis carried out by the Financial Services Council (FSC) reveals that while cancer remains the main cause of life insurance claims, mental health-related disability claims have more than doubled in the last five years.
The claims analysis over the five-year period includes extensive data collection and examination of 71,000 new and closed claims for personally advised insurance policies purchased through financial advisers (including Core Wealth Advisors), from 10 insurers.
Life insurers paid $1.24 billion in 2019 to more than 9,500 Australians for mental health-related claims that cover an extremely wide and complex spectrum of conditions.
The top five underlying mental health conditions included in these claims are:
- Depression, including single and recurrent episodes
- Unspecified anxiety disorders, for example panic or anxiety attacks
- Reaction to severe stress, for example post-traumatic stress disorder
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Schizophrenia.
See below “Life Insurance Claims Data for 2019” to find a breakdown of claims by insurance type.
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