Question: On-line shopping is so convenient, even when renewing my insurance policy. When I purchase an insurance policy online, is the insurance company obliged to send me the policy documentation and other related documents by mail?
It stands to reason, that a policyholder should be provided not only with the benefits which the insurance policy may award in the event of a claim, but also the contractual terms binding on both the insurer and the insured, i.e. the policy document. At inception, the insurance policy would generally be provided to the policyholder. There is no obligation for the insurer to provide the same contract to the insured if the policy is renewed with the same insurer – however, the insurer may amend any policy conditions prior to renewal by means of an endorsement, which is usually attached to the renewal notice.
Question: I will be joining a tour next August and I preferred to purchase my travel insurance from my travel agent. Actually, I was told that the whole group will be insured under one policy. I was given a receipt for the premium and also a document which lists the benefits from the policy if I claim. Is that all the insurance documentation I need?
There may be some instances in which the policy document may not be given – not because the insurer is not willing to do so but rather as a result of the contractual nature between the insurer, the insured and the beneficiaries of the policy. This may usually occur when the policy is issued to a group of people, such as a group health scheme or a group travel policy. In the former case, for example, the contracting party is normally the organization which pays for the policy and the beneficiaries of the policy are the staff of such organization. The contract between the insurer and the insured (i.e. the organisation) may not only contain the “standard terms and conditions” of a health insurance policy but also other contractual clauses of a commercial nature which may not necessarily be of interest to the beneficiaries. Given the commercial nature of the transaction, it may not be appropriate for the organisation’s staff to have access to the whole document. However, the organisation in question is expected to provide the product information document relating to the insurance policy to all the insureds.
In any case, the insurance intermediary distributing the insurance product whether this relates to general insurance or whether the product in question is an insurance based investment products (e.g. unit linked policies), is obliged to provide to the client a Product Information Document. This is essentially a very brief document containing standardised information about the policy’s basic features such as the name of the insurance company issuing the policy, cover, exclusions, cancellation rights and restriction of cover. This document can be sent by email or can be made available from download from the website of the insurer or of the insurance intermediary distributing the insurance product.
The Conduct of Business Rulebook which applies to insurers and insurance intermediaries distributing insurance products requires these entities to provide certain information to clients in a paper or any other durable medium which is defined as“ any instrument which enables a client to store information addressed personally to that client in a way accessible for future reference and for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the Information and which allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored.”
