Personal Accident Prohibitions

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 149, 19 March 1936, Page 11

Personal Accident Prohibitions

Sir, —Personal accident insurance is much the oldest form of accident business, as it dates from the introduction of railways in England. It is also the most valuable to the nation. To everyone, male or female, whose income or earnings depends on bodily health and physical fitness, it is at least as important as life insurance; iu fact, life insurance is utterly incomplete unless it has its marriage mate, the policy which finds income against every class of temporary disablement and substantial sums for permanent disablement. Yet in New Zealand not one adult out of every hundred has a weekly income policy, though fully 50 offices offer to issue them. And of the policies which are issued more than VO per cent, would at once be lapsed if the policy-holders read the fearful set of conditions on the back of the policy debarring claims. This accounts for the few personal policies issued and the consequent stupendous loss through sickness and accident to the community.

One company (not a New Zealand or English onek actually has a condition that if, as often happens, during the currency of a disablement claim, a premium comes due. nothing more will be paid for the disablement claim unless that later premium is paid.

No class of office can equitably demand the payment of any premium, but this one docs, and failing payment of it the office will not pay a great part of the claim for which it has already received the premium. Actually this condition can apply for 11 years. This condition can often mean the loss of hundreds of pounds to the policy-holder and that at the time when he most needs it.

Most personal policies offer several benefits, death and each of the various forms of disablement. For each of these a separate premium is charged, and the proposer pays a lump sum equalling their total. Yet almost all offices here will not pay full claims under two benefits in any one year. If during the year a policyholder has received £3OO (more or less) for disablement and has a second accident causing dentil, the amount already paid is deducted from the death claim despite the all-important fact tliat full premiums have been paid for both benefits. Thousands of personal policies have been issued in New Zealand called accident and sickness policies. There are thousands of sicknesses, but even cursory inspection of these policies will show that they cover only 30 named sicknesses, several of which, like smallpox, have never been known in New Zealand. The value of this benefit at £6 a week is but a few pence, but the premium charged is a guinea! Almost all (fortunately not quite all) accident offices exclude many of the worst risks to which even tiie most select occupations nre liable. A few of these excluded risks are earthquake, somnambulism. tidal wave and volcanic eruption. When one recalls the thousands of policies covering earthquake risks on buildings and stock that are issued one can only wonder if such companies think human life is of less value than property. The premiums charged by most accident offices for personal policies are decidedly high, much higher than in England, where the accident risk is much greater. These premiums with the usurious policy conditions explain the very limited amount of business written and why it does not increase ns life insurance and the population so markedly do.’ Many of the offices offering to do it have been in New Zealand for many years, mid do not to-day take even £lOOO per annum in this class of business! 'The policy conditions are what were usual in England over half a century ago. For many years past there both policy conditions and benefits have been very liberal. Why should New Zealand be so greatly deprived from having one of the most valuable forme of insurance yet devised ?

Many fire policies have been issued in New Zealand almost as free from restrictions and conditions as are the best life policies. A similar conditionless personal accident policy can easily be issued. The business would then grow rapidly, be profitable and of stupendous national value.—l am, etc.. IL H. THOMPSON. Wellington, March 16.