ACCT 2287ISK, INSURANCE AND SOCIAL SECURITY

April 27, 2022 HND 0 Comments

ASSIGNMENT 2

RESEARCH PAPER AND VIDEO

SEMESTER 1 2022

Due by Friday of Week 9, 6 May 2022 (by 23:59 pm)

THE RESEARCH PAPER IS 2,500 WORDS (PLUS OR MINUS 10%)

TOTAL MARKS: 40

The assignment is in two parts:

Part A: Choose from one of the following topics below (30 marks) and

Part B: prepare a video summarising the key points from your chosen topic (10 marks)

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST COMPLETE BOTH PARTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE BOTH PARTS NO MARKS WILL BE AWARDED FOR THE ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT.

Table of Contents

PART A:

You must select from ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TOPICS to prepare your research paper.

TOPICS TO SELECT FROM:

TOPIC 1:

Refer to the Hayne Royal Commission into misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

See the following link for the full final report (Download the Final report, Volume 1, not the Interim report) made:

A copy of this report has also been uploaded to Canvas.

Section 3.4 of the final report shows the recommendations relating specifically to the insurance industry, out of which four recommendations are listed below.

Recommendation 4.2 – Removing the exemptions for funeral expense policies

Recommendation 4.3 – Deferred sales model for add-on insurance

Recommendation 4.5 – Duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to an insurer

Recommendation 4.6 – Avoidance of life insurance contracts

REQUIRED:

You are required to discuss the above four recommendations made by the Hayne Royal Commission and in discussing these four insurance recommendations, you must cover the following points:

Explain the background as to why these recommendations were made i.e., what was the existing issue that led to its recommendations, (you need to research the background to why the problem arose that was the subject of the recommendations)

Do you agree or disagree with the recommendations and why or why not? (You must consider the recommendations and give your view as to why they will work or not)

If you do not agree with the recommendations, then what would you recommend? (You need to discuss the shortfalls in the recommendations)

If the Government has passed legislation to implement the recommendations, do you think the legislation will achieve the purpose of the recommendations? (You must look at the legislation and understand what it says and whether you think it will achieve its intended goals)

TOPIC 2:

One of the key issues for insurance companies is how to deal with and identify hazards. A good understanding of hazards assists the insurance company in deciding to take on the risk and determine the price of the premium. One of the key hazards is the health of the insured when they are seeking life insurance products.

A recent issue that has caused controversy is the use of genetic profiling of the insured. This has raised ethical and moral issues.

REQUIRED:

Discuss the impact of genetic testing for both the insured and the insurer and what policy issues this raises. You will also need to refer to another country besides Australia to discuss how they have dealt with the issue.

A useful (but not all) reference for you has been uploaded in Canvas.

TOPIC 3:

As a result of the current pandemic, a lot of businesses suffered financial losses. When they claimed under their general insurance policies their claim for business interruption losses were denied on the basis that the COVID 19 pandemic was not covered by their policy.

REQUIRED:

Discuss why the insurance companies have taken this view. Were they justified by law in adopting this approach? What are the legal issues about this issue? What rights do the insured have? Do you think the Federal Government needs to be concerned about this issue? With changes as these, do you think the Insurance industry in Australia is heading towards a hardening market or a soft market?

Some useful references for you have been uploaded in Canvas.

TOPIC 4:

Your task is to take the role of an insurance adviser and to interview a family member, friend or colleague and complete an application for insurance with them. You are to assume they require the following levels of insurance:

_ Life $950,000

_ TPD $250,000

(Disability)

_ Income protection $5,500 per month

(Monthly disability)

_ Trauma protection $150,000

(Critical illness)

You are to use the MLC Protection first insurance product and the application form commencing on page 146 of the MLC Product Disclosure Statement. (The following document has also been uploaded in Canvas).

You will need to find someone who is prepared to share personal information with you. However, as this is an exercise only, it is acceptable for them to withhold information they are not comfortable disclosing (it would be prudent to read the application questions before you decide who you will approach to assist you). You should use a fictitious name and address as it is important that the ‘applicant’ cannot be identified. Where signatures are required, the applicant should mark with an ‘X’.

REQUIRED:

You are to write a report of your experience of completing the application. The written report must detail:

You are required to explain to the applicant what the purpose of the different types of insurance above are and what they cover. You also need to discuss who owns the policy and any key issues in the policies the client needs to be aware of.

The steps you took preparing for the interview, during the interview and after the interview, (you should begin by writing an overview of the process and steps you undertook with your ‘client’, e.g., reading and understanding the document, anticipating questions from the client, how did you approach them etc)

You must explain to your client why it is necessary for the insurance company to collect such detailed information on the application form. Explain how the insurance company uses the information and why it is important that it can rely on the information provided.
How successful you were in communicating with the client so that they understood the need to provide the information. What do you think went well in the process i.e., your ability to explain or not, what didn’t go well during the interview e.g., they asked difficult questions you could not answer or understand?

What you would do differently next time. The purpose is to get you to think about what you have done and what you have learned and how you would do this process in real life with a real client.

You are required to write about the explanations you gave about the different insurance types i.e., explain the types of insurance, why they are needed and what is their purpose.

You are needed to document feedback from the ‘client’ of their experience. You must record feedback from your client about the process.

You must also upload the application form that you completed with the client (If there are parts of the form which you are unable to complete, write ‘unable to complete’ in the space – only complete relevant sections) together with your report.

PART B:

VIDEO:

The second part of your assignment is a VIDEO.

This must be completed by ALL students. Failure to complete the video will result in no marks awarded for the whole assignment.

The second part of the assignment requires you to prepare and upload a video. In this video you must summarise the key issues of your research paper and explain your recommendations or views. The video is to be a summary of your paper. The video should be between 5 – 10 minutes long.