TAL urges health act review to assist TPD

Major group insurer, TAL has urged a review of health act provisions to enable insurers to help pay medical expenses capable of getting injured workers back to work sooner.

The proposition has been outlined by TAL in its submission to the Productivity Commission's review of Superannuation Competitiveness and Efficiency and comes at the same time as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has expressed concern about declined claims rates covering total and permanent disablement (TPD) cover.

The TAL submission said the provision of disability insurance benefits on a default, opt-out basis "makes the superannuation system an affordable, efficient, and sustainable mechanism to provide such services for millions of working Australians".

However, it stressed the importance of ensuring people on TPD claims were returned to the workforce as quickly as possible.

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"A review of the health act provisions should be undertaken to enable life insurers to pay some medical expenses (such as hospital and or surgery) which may assist members to return to work," it said.

"In some cases a member's return to work is considerably delayed because of a lack of timely access to necessary medical procedures."

"If life insurers could provide access to these procedures (similar to the current private health insurance provisions) then this would alleviate the pressure on our public hospital system and Medicare," the TAL submission said.