Southern Cross Healthcare recently highlighted efforts to ‘crack down’ on suspicious claims – it was picked up by Anne Gibson at The New Zealand Herald recently – link.
This is an important strategy. Although the additional sums of money saved (over and above usual fraud prevention) are quite small the signal is valuable for several reasons.
- It is in everyone’s interest that the ‘opportunist’ fraudster is deterred – including their own.
- Clients will appreciate the fact that their money is well looked after
- Generally good practices, such as being careful with paperwork and where your signature goes is a useful consumer message at all times
- It sets up a public record of the fact that not all claims are valid, which may help to allow a more balance coverage of insurance stories in the future.
Of course, it remains a balancing act. Your own policyholders must not be so scared they decide not to claim.