Disability claim approvals stood at 71.1% without financial advice compared with 81.1% for advised policies.
Australian life insurers approved 71.1% of total and permanent disability (TPD) claims for individual policies purchased without financial advice, compared with 81.1% for advised policies, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
APRA’s life insurance claims and disputes data for June 2026 showed higher approval rates for group insurance policies, at 88.5% through superannuation funds and 90.7% through other arrangements.
TPD claims took an average of 3.95 months to process, with only 22.7% finalised within two weeks. Another 33.6% took between two and six months.
Death claims were processed faster, averaging one month, with 74.7% finalised within two weeks.
Approval rates for death claims reached 97.1% for advised individual policies and 90.9% for non-advised policies.
Income protection claims showed similar differences. Insurers approved 94.3% of claims under advised policies, compared with 85.0% for non-advised policies.
Disputes were also higher for non-advised income protection policies, at 493.3 per 100,000 lives insured, compared with 325.8 for advised policies.
For TPD coverage, non-advised policies recorded 114.8 disputes per 100,000 lives insured, compared with 114.4 for advised policies.
Insurers resolved 82.5% of TPD disputes and 86.5% of income protection disputes, with average resolution times of 1.76 months and 1.31 months, respectively.