In response to proposed legislation put forward by the government, the FSC requested that the proposed legislation does not capture people such as doctors, physiotherapists and accountants acting in their professional capacity by providing an expert opinion in claims matters.
The legislation seeks to address Recommendation 4.8 of the Hayne royal commission final report, stating that “the handling and settlement of insurance claims, or potential insurance claims, should no longer be excluded from the definition of ‘financial service’”.
FSC chief executive Sally Loane said while they may have a role in the process, these experts, specialists and services providers are external to the insurer and hold no delegated authority to make a claims decision.
“For instance, a doctor providing an opinion on an injury which could be the subject of an insurance claim. The conduct and compliance of these professionals is already governed by their own professional body and the associated licensing arrangements,” she said.
Ms Loane said she welcomed the opportunity to submit a response to the proposed legislation and used the opportunity to seek clarification and certainty regarding the timing from which obligations would be expected to commence.
She said entities should be treated consistently and given certainty on the date that their obligations commence, noting that currently there is ambiguity in the legislation, before suggesting clarification that all obligations under the new regime will apply from 1 July 2021.
“A definitive date is vital to ensure claims handling services (CHS) can continue to be processed smoothly, because we know that illnesses, car crashes and accidents don’t just stop because of new obligations, rules, processes and licensing backlogs. Clarity on the date is essential,” Ms Loane said.
“The successful implementation of Recommendation 4.8 will require industry to act immediately and invest significant resources in order to ensure that legislative requirements are satisfied on both an initial and ongoing basis.
“We understand that ASIC will be releasing an information guide to clarify the regulatory expectations under the regime. A timely release of this IG would greatly assist industry to more effectively implement the appropriate changes.”
Sally Loane you need to STOP “WELCOMING” government and regulator inexperience and shortsightedness and START punching back and up on behalf of your clients!! If not – then get out of the way and let someone step up who will.
No mention of the parasites called lawyers. 15 to 30% of the claim.
It’s time you left the industry Sally Sloane, you add no value to the industry as a whole when your sole purpose seems to be to rip off the distribution chain and the clients you are meant to be looking after. Just go already.
Based upon history whenever Sally Loane speaks on behalf of the FSC you have to look for the corrupt downside of anything suggested. For example here the FSC wouldn’t want doctors views to be set in stone in case they want to reject a claim with their own assessment.
Yeah because Doctors aren’t claims assessors. Should claims assess make medical decisions?
Yeh right FSC, so you want to be able to refute the Dr’s medical advice / diagnosis and then make up your own medical assessment with no independent Dr involved.
Wow that’s going to work well for people making claims when your dodgy claims assessors reject everything and can’t be scrutinised by an impartial expert.
WHAT AN ABSOLUTE JOKE !!!!!!!!!
Let’s be clear about this – Insurers make decisions about insurance contracts/claims taking into account evidence from a range of experts, including doctors. Doctors do not make insurance contract decisions because they understand about as much of insurance contracts as Insurers understand about treating and diagnosing medical disorders.