Southern Cross to review communications after debacle over withdrawn benefit

“We're going to do a thorough review of our communications processes and make sure we do as good a job as we possibly can,” Kerry Boielle, chief sales and marketing officer, told GoodReturns.

Adviser Jon-Paul Hale of Willowgrove Consulting, Graeme Lindsay, who provides analysis to life and health insurance agents through his firm Strategy Financial Services and Russell Hutchinson of industry consulting firm Chatswood Consulting have all told GoodReturns they've only just become aware that the benefit, which previously covered non-surgical hospitalisations, had been dropped.

The wording of Southern Cross' policies does allow it to change the benefits its policies cover, so the issue was whether it communicated the changes it made in 2020 adequately – the removal of the benefit was one of many changes made at the same time.

Boielle reiterated Southern Cross' previous arguments that everything previously covered by the non-surgical hospitalisation benefit remained covered by various other categories of benefits and that it had been a rarely used benefit by Southern Cross policyholders.