New product allows personal selection of treatment, immediately for claimants
Perception, a company associated to personal injury law firm Blakemores, has unveiled what is thought to be the first ever after-the-event (ATE) rehabilitation insurance cover.
The product, which costs £30, will pay for between 10 and 20 sessions of rehabilitation therapy, according to Perception spokesman Ben Elsom. This means the claimant can receive rehabilitation regardless of how the personal injury claim is going. Elsom added that the product allowed claimants to use rehabilitation services of their own choice rather than the ones on insurers' approved lists.
Elsom explained that the product would be underwritten by Euclidian and that the volume of therapy available depended on the risk.
It is understood that a number of other ATE policy providers are working towards ATE rehabilitation products.
Norwich Union sells a before-the-event rehabilitation policy called Physio Fast through its website. The policy sells for £12 per year and can be added to comprehensive motor policies.
The policy allows for eight treatment sessions with an upper limit of £400 total spend.
It is understood that NU is looking at selling the physiotherapy product through brokers.
Rehabilitation specialist FirstAssist is also looking at selling before-the-event physiotherapy cover. Chief executive Tim Ablett confirmed that a product was under development and was likely to be ready for sale in the New Year.
Ablett welcomed the development of ATE rehabilitation insurance. "Anything that puts rehabilitation forward has to be a good thing," he said.
The development of rehabilitation products is being driven by the government's review of employers' liability, which has stated that rehabilitation is a central plank in tackling the problem of soaring liability costs.
