[pelaut] A holistic approach to crew insurance

 

A holistic approach to crew insurance

Jan 24 2014

"In 2014, does it still make sense for P&I Clubs to underwrite routine health and accident claims?" asked Robert Johnston, head of the crew medical and personal accident insurance specialist Crewsure.

"We are advised that this year, a number of owners and their brokers are exploring buying low level healthcare insurance, which poses an interesting question for our sector," he said.

Commenting on the heightened atmosphere of the P&I renewal season, Johnston added: "Clubs have inherited the task of dealing with seafarers who need medical treatment.  Yet they are not healthcare insurers - they are ill equipped to provide 24/7 no fault medical plans, or to negotiate standard fees with hospitals and so for many years they have been forced to battle rising health bills.

"Why not take this everyday expense away from them? Why not agree a level of deductible that the Club is comfortable with and then insure the claims arising within the deductible with a specialist healthcare insurer and thereby provide benefits to crew, which is the approach to healthcare enshrined in MLC2006?" he asked.

Johnston believed that the industry should consider a holistic approach. "The timing is right to review the manner in which crew medical welfare is insured. Does it make commercial sense to continue to look to the mutual clubs to underwrite routine expenses that clearly they would prefer to avoid, or is it time for shipowners to embrace the spirit of MLC and purchase benefits' policies for all their staff, rather than see them as claimants under their employers' liability policies?"

It is well known that today's global seafarer population is getting older and more sedentary, the abundance of paperwork is putting untold stresses on senior officers and the general level of expectation from healthcare services increases year on year.

===== fm tanker operator ============

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