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Beware the Pitfalls

Keep your chances of success alive

If you come to SRI after you have already shopped your case to 2 or 3 insurers, the chance of us being able to secure favourable terms for your client are dramatically reduced.

When a case is ‘Deferred’, it is usually because there was insufficient evidence or inconclusive data from the medical notes provided, for the risk to be properly assessed. In many cases, this also applies where a premium loading has been offered.

‘Shopping’ the same medical evidence around a number of insurers/reinsurers before all of the medical issues have been correctly identified and answered will invariably produce the same outcome. Once presented with a case, insurers and reinsurers are reluctant to look at the same case again, regardless of any extra value we can add to it - so your chances of getting it underwritten at all dwindle significantly.

We strongly recommend that if you have tried to place a case with your preferred insurer and it is deferred, or the premium loading is considered unreasonable, you contact us immediately to have our team of specialists give you a second opinion. Where we are confident of obtaining favourable terms, we can then prepare a comprehensive Case Presentation.

Your client will thank you for it.

Understanding the Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act 1993 demands an insurer cannot decline without thorough evaluation.

The Human Rights Commission is currently revising the Guidelines on Insurance under the Human Rights Act, which are likely to be published in September 2007. (Draft Guidelines have already been released to the industry). A number of improvements are expected which will have implications for:

1. Applications being “Deferred” in an effort to circumvent the complexity and costs of having to prove that insurance cannot be offered.
2. The general underwriting paranoia around issuing insurance for people who have suffered stress or mental illness.
3. Reinsurers not being covered by this Act and pressure on insurers to follow their Underwriting Guides or face the risk of claims not being shared with them.

All the more reason why you need a specialist to handle non–standard cases. We will identify all the factors that can make the difference for insurance being offered at reasonable Terms, i.e. with the right price and policy conditions.

Contact us for further information.

Financial Services Act

The first phase of these changes is to be announced by the end of June.

One of the indicators is that Advisers can only work in the areas they are qualified in and where they can prove they are competent. Handling complex Special Risk cases requires a very high level of competency. Without sufficient experience and knowledge, it is safer for advisers to refer this work onto a specialist – just as Medical GP’s do when they encounter situations outside their area of expertise.

Contact a Special Risks expert today to handle your non standard cases.