CommInsure adapts to change

CommInsure managing director Simon Swanson said a number of factors have lead to the insurer gaining momentum in the marketplace.

“The company has good product pricing, excellent claims services and mobile underwriting for the adviser,” he said.

“We have also brought back sales skills training for advisers, as we saw this was lacking in the marketplace.”

Swanson said the CommInsure Risk Sales Academy also helps advisers gain a better understanding of products.

“If the advisers understand the products better, this is then passed onto the clients, which means everybody is winning,” he said.

“The academy is also there to help the adviser sell more products, as sales skills have been lost as older advisers retire.”

Swanson said upgrading trauma policies to reflect the changing lifestyle of clients was another important move during the year.

“The policies are now clear and more understandable, which is helping both the client and the adviser,” he said.

“The products had become too technical, which was making them harder to understand, but with simpler wording, clients now understand what the policy is offering.”

Asteron senior product manager Andrew Casperson said talking to advisers and medical practitioners has led to improving gaps in the company’s trauma products.

“Our Recovery product has always been very strong, but we continue to make changes to options and partial payments to meet changing market demand,” he said.

“We have been looking at including the whole family in the cover and introduced pricing options for children’s trauma.”

Asteron has introduced a $10,000 children’s trauma option to encourage cover for all the family.

“Although there have been considerable advances in medical science, people still need money for recovery periods, which we cover,” Casperson said.

“We have also improved payments for rare, severe medical conditions such as MS, where we know the client will need extra help.

“For these rare medical conditions we will pay an extra 25 per cent to cover the specialist treatment.”

He said these types of illness were rare occurrences for insurers, so it made sense to pay a little extra to help the clients.

AXA has also responded to changing medical science by adding more options to its trauma products, especially in the area of cancer events.

“We have given more comprehensive cover for cancer claims,” AXA product manager individual insurance Melissa Pinfold said.

“The product will now give partial payment during the early stages of cancer treatment.”

Cancer is a major reason for claims from trauma products, accounting for 60 per cent of all claims.

“That is why we have focused on the treatment of cancer by our products,” she said.

“It is about the real situations that develop in cancer treatment and responding to what clients want.

“You no longer have to have full-blown cancer to get a payment from our policies.”

Pinfold said payments in the treatment stage of cancer help alleviate the client’s fears of the event.

“It is also helping the advisers, who can help the client by removing financial worries during the treatment stage and the adviser is seen to have an understanding of the client’s situation.”

Pinfold said these changes to the cancer options help make the product comprehensive.

“Adults fear cancer more than anything else and cancer is a reality,” she said.

“By improving the quality of life during treatment, we can eradicate some of that fear.”