"while we have insurance companies overseeing the health,
welfare and safety of ordinary people, there will never be fairness or
justice"
Extracts
from speeches made in the Queensland Parliament by State Labor MP, Jim
Pearce, who has been actively campaigning for an inquiry into the insurance
industry’s biased handling of claims lodged by sufferers of Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome
14 March 2000:- Honourable members will recall that I have stood in this
place on two occasions and spoken about the unconscionable misleading and bad
faith conduct of insurance companies in dealing with disablement claims
submitted by people diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic
fatigue syndrome. Since my last speech in November and the subsequent media
coverage in the Sunday Mail and on A Current Affair, I have been contacted by
many more Queenslanders who are the victims of "delay and discourage,
obstruct and offload" tactics of insurance companies. When one looks at
the information gathered, the pattern is quite clear.
Today I want to turn the spotlight on the Federal Government,
which bears sole responsibility for regulating the insurance industry. I also
wish to speak of the Financial Industry Complaints Service, known as FICS, and
formerly known as the Life Insurance Complaints Service, known as LICS, which
exists to ensure fair play in this self-regulated insurance sector and to act
as an independent watchdog body. Evidence to hand suggests that both have been
overlooking their obligations to the people by failing to ensure that the
insurance industry is open and accountable in the way it does business with
consumers who, in good faith, sign up with insurance companies for income and
mortgage protection. Because FICS and self-regulated insurers remain
unencumbered by freedom of information provisions and enjoy the privilege of
non-transparency in dealing with claimants and complainants, victims are
prevented from acquiring evidence that would prove unfair conduct.
I have spoken before about one of my constituents who has been
diagnosed with CFS. On her behalf I have made representations re unconscionable
conduct to the Federal Minister for Financial Services and Regulations, Mr Joe
Hockey, who has taken the typical Yes, Minister stance. He claims to be
sympathetic to the difficulties experienced by my constituent. However, in his
opinion no aspect of the matter warranted further Government intervention.
Under the circumstances, and given the way my constituent has been treated by
National Mutual, now known as AXA Insurance, Mr Hockey has failed dismally. His
head-in-the-sand Yes, Minister attitude says to me that, rather than protect
the interests of the individual, he protects the insurance industry. It is
another example of the Federal Government's lack of compassion for the
battlers, the sick, the disabled, the disadvantaged and the elderly.
My constituent and others are right when they say to me that the
self-regulated, self-interested behaviour of insurance companies clearly
demonstrates contempt for reasonable industry procedure, contempt for
reasonable customer rights and the lengths to which it expects to be able to go
with impunity to crucify clients rather than grant claims.
One has only to look at the policy conditions to see how the
insurance industry behaves. The insured has no right to withhold information.
The insured has no right to evidence of the experience of reviewing doctors.
The insured has no right to refuse a medical examination, however
inappropriate. The insured has no right to view independent medical reports.
The insured has no right to validate that the insurer adheres to the medical
reviewers' diagnosis or recommendation. The insured has no rights when it comes
to fair and reasonable practice expectations that reviewing doctors take into
consideration the evidence and expertise of treating doctors. The insured has
no right when forced by insurance companies to be reviewed by doctors who are
known to be biased in their opinions towards CFS. My constituent asks, quite
rightly: how can such an authoritarian operation exist in a democratic society?
Minister Joe Hockey is a conservative Minister in a conservative
Government. That Government is non-caring when it comes to dealing with issues
that impact on the lives of the sickest and least privileged of our society -
those who can be easily brought down by an insurance company or by insurance
company employees who find them fair game for harassment, deception and
intimidation.
These people are not trained to be nice to the disabled and to the
sick. The people I represent are the victims caught up in the cross-fire
between some very powerful organisations: the insurance industry, Government,
health and social security departments, workers compensation and superannuation
boards. These organisations would prefer it if ME/CFS were never diagnosed as a
discrete and enabling condition, to save face and losses, or alternatively that
it were classified as a psychiatric rather than physical condition. The
pharmaceutical companies also want to see the illness viewed as a psychiatric
one because it opens up a wider market for their anti-depressants. Likewise,
the psychiatrist wants ME/CFS to be seen as a psychiatric illness because that
dramatically increases their market share of medical spending.
The Federal Government appears to be sympathetic in its rhetoric
but is less than sincere when it comes to showing real concern for what is
happening to the sick. Like all Ministers, Mr Hockey as the responsible
Minister for the insurance industry prefers to wipe his hands when it comes to
issues that are destined for the too-hard basket. Elected members, like the
Minister, forget that they are supposed to work at all times to help our
citizens, not simply to do nothing in the interests of protecting the fat cat
at the top end of town. Minister Hockey is a co-respondent to the misery of the
sick. By his own inaction, he supports harassment and endorses intimidation. He
endorses the use of hired guns: the cash-for-comment referral specialists used
by insurance companies.
As a Minister of the Crown who has declined to act to prevent or
remedy the current situation, he could be considered to be guilty of
encouraging multinational investment in the insurance sector by providing a non-transparent,
almost penalty free environment in which insurers cannot fail to prosper.
If the Minister were really concerned about the community at
large, he would get off his backside and use his position to initiate an
inquiry into the bad faith behaviour of the insurance industry. But because he
will not do that, he is as guilty of protecting the insurance industry as the
Spanish Government is of protecting Christopher Skase. His lack of action means
that insurance companies are able to bully, humiliate, discredit and dehumanise
the sick, who only want a fair go. Minister Hockey must understand that, while
we have insurance companies overseeing the health, welfare and safety of
ordinary people, there will never be fairness or justice.
The so-called insurance industry codes of conduct do not appear to
provide for genuine and specific consumer redress. Instead, they appear to
provide a comfort zone for legal liability, which means provisions for good
faith behaviour are voluntary. The watchdog bodies, FICS and the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission, may not investigate breaches in active
cases and cannot impose meaningful fines or penalties.
Liberated from the constraints of FOI or a bill of rights or
health rights, they are relatively safe from court action brought on by
cash-strapped claimants, they are free to operate outside the Royal Australian
College of Physicians' guidelines for managing CFS and they are entitled to
self-regulate for self-interest without Government intervention.
This means that insurance companies are guaranteed secrecy and
virtual success. If our citizens are to get a fair go from the insurance
industry, this has to change. Minister Hockey and his hypocritical conservative
mates are allowing insurance companies to abuse the principles of a fair go,
leaving legitimately sick people struggling for survival, bringing on
bankruptcy and forcing people onto the welfare system. Minister Hockey has
shown his incompetence with his handling of the GST, so how can the people I
speak on behalf of have any confidence in him at all? How can anyone have any
confidence in a Government which has lost touch with ordinary Australians?
There are plenty of stories to be told about the behaviour of insurance
companies across all areas of insurance business.
The only way to stop my campaign against the insurance industry is
for the insurance industry to acknowledge that it is not playing the game in a
fair, open and accountable way. The insurance industry lacks credibility and it
is time that it woke up. The public rates the insurance industry as no better
than the banks. It is about time that the Federal Minister acted on his
obligation to make sure that Australian citizens get a fair go.
I inform the Minister and I inform the insurance industry that I
will continue to pursue this issue until the industry changes its attitude.
People who suffer from CFS and who have made legitimate claims under their
insurance policies deserve a fair go. They should not be subject to the kind of
ongoing treatment which has been brought to my attention. I am aware of the
impact that it is having on families. I am aware that there have been suicides
as a result of the way these people have been treated. It has to come to an
end.
13 April 2000:- Honourable members are aware that I have spoken in this
Parliament on three previous occasions about the bad faith behaviour of
insurance companies in the management of temporary and permanent disablement
claims lodged by diagnosed sufferers of CFS - chronic fatigue syndrome.
One of the realities of life is that decent, hardworking
career-driven men and women make commonsense decisions about their future in
the hope that dollars invested in income and property protection with an
insurance company will protect them in a time of need. They sign up with
insurance companies in good faith. We all know that insurance companies spend
millions of dollars in slick advertising in order to convince people to sign on
the dotted line.
Today I will pull the wrapping off the slick words and
attention-grabbing footage of ads used by the insurance company AXA.
I have a message for all Australians. If they want an insurance
company that has an established record of bad faith behaviour, of using every
dirty trick in the book to deny and frustrate the sick and vulnerable until
they drop off and commit suicide, look for AXA. The name says it all.
I say this to fair dinkum Australians who expect a fair go in
life: if they want an insurance company that is not accountable for its actions,
if they want an insurance company that puts more effort into protecting its no
precedent policy on CFS permanent disability payouts than protecting the
interests of the sick and disabled, one that puts its claimants under prolonged
surveillance and refuses to accept the advice of treating specialists, is well
known for using referral specialists who are biased and open to cash for
comment, if as an insured person they are prepared to suffer financial
hardship, loss of income, loss of home, loss of self-esteem, relationship
breakdown and become dependent on the welfare system, remember AXA. The name
says it all.
They are corporate vandals who have destroyed the lives of
ordinary Queenslanders and Australians. I have been contacted by people from
all over Australia. There is growing evidence of an insurance industry that is
guilty of unconscionable behaviour. Time expired.
Jim
Pearce MP (Labor) is the State Member for Fitzroy.
For
further information or copies of other speeches presented by Jim Pearce:
please call 07 49332755, fax 07 49332760,
write to PO Box 100, Gracemere, Qld, 4702,
or email the Fitzroy Electorate Office –
Fitzroy@parliament.qld.gov.au
You can
also search the Queensland Hansard website –
www.parliament.qld.gov.au/hansard