• Membership
• NIBA Toolbox
• NIBA Community
• NIBA College
• CAPIBA
• IRP - NIBA's Publication

User Login

Accident & Health – frequently asked questions

What is Accident & Health?
Accident & Health or A&H refers to a class of products designed to cover people for loss as a result of injury and/or sickness. It's a class that is often at the tail-end of consideration from a risk transfer perspective – but in recent years has become increasingly important to clients who are wanting to better manage their people risk exposures (and the potential impact on reputation and the balance sheet and the broader issue of duty of care to employees).

What are the core products and what cover do they provide?
The core products within the class are Group Personal Accident & Sickness and Corporate Travel. Expatriate Medical has become an increasingly important product for businesses pursing growth within the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

Group Personal Accident can be provided as an employee benefits, providing Accidental Death, Capital Benefit and Weekly Injury and Sickness benefits which can compliment and top-up existing life and income protection covers. Variations on this product include Individual Personal Accident, Voluntary Worker and Journey covers.

Corporate Travel includes a large number of Corporate traveller specific covers including Medical Expenses, Cancellation expenses, Trip Disruption, Political Risk and Natural Disaster Evacuation, Kidnap & Ransom, Personal Liability and Extra-Territorial Workers Compensation covers. Corporate Travel covers are typically broader in scope than a retail Leisure Travel-style product.

What is the most important cover within the Accident & Health product class?
There's an argument to say all products within the class can be equally important – but there is no question the most significant risk of a large loss and adverse impact to corporate reputation involves employees travelling or being seconded on business to an overseas location.

The Department of Foreign Affairs And Trade's (DFAT) smarttraveller.gov.au website describes the situation clearly and without the motivation to sell or recommend a product: "For most Australians overseas, travel is a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, however, every day our consular officers deal with human tragedies involving the death, injury or hospitalisation of Australians abroad. Each year we handle over 25,000 cases involving Australians in difficulty overseas. This includes over 1,200 hospitalisations, 900 deaths and 50 evacuations of Australians to another location for medical purposes.
 
“Daily hospitalisation costs in Southeast Asia regularly exceed $800; return of remains from Europe in excess of $10,000. The cost of medical evacuations from the United States regularly range from $75,000 to $95,000 and sometimes up to $300,000. The department has handled medical evacuations from nearby Bali in which costs have exceeded $60,000.

“Unfortunately, not all of these cases involved travellers covered by travel insurance. Travellers who are not covered by insurance are personally liable for covering incurred medical and associated costs. As a result, we have known instances where families have been forced to sell off assets, including their superannuation or family homes, to bring loved ones back to Australia for treatment.”

I already have some travel insurance cover in place – why do I need to consider alternatives?
There are a number of Accident & Health providers in the Australian market. Many provide a variation on the theme of the core products. What is important to consider when considering a provider is not just the wording or indeed the price (although these are clearly important factors) but the most important consideration is whether the service the insurer offers will provide you and your employees with the confidence that they will deliver when it matters the most.

That means when your employee is off work, has used all their sick leave and requires payment of a weekly benefit claim, that they are dealt fairly, promptly and with empathy.

Where an employee is sick or injured in a foreign country, a long way from home, then when they contact their insurer for assistance, you and your employee must have confidence that they will get the service and support they need when it matters the most.