China’s Gift: Carona Virus Pandemic Threatens Insurers in two ways and one is way More Costly

Travel Insurance Providers may face claims for cancellations for travel plans yet taken. But the HUGE risk is covering costs for people ALREADY overseas. That’s way more costly

 

For people with travel insurance taken out prior to the #CaronaVirus being made a declared event, getting your money back will be relatively straight forward. In fact for most part, now that countries are closing their borders, the risks are going back onto the providers,because they cannot claim a lost booking if NO ONE is allowed to travel in. Refunds on flights will be easy to manage, and there will be a few claims for those bookings with a no refund element from the airline, but they tend to be at the lower cost market.

For Insurers the huge costs (potential losses) are having people STUCK overseas.

And for many Australians, traveling to Europe or North America during our summer, to work the ski fields, see the northern lights and so on is a hige draw card.

Travel Insurers need to start thinking about getting people home soon, or face months and months of paying for private hotels rooms, food etc for travelers stuck overseas. Instead of say a change over cost of change of plans costing a few hundreds or maybe even a couple of thousands, Travel Insurers like RACV, Travel Insurers Direct, and Covermore face accommodation and sustenance charges that could get into fifteen, twenty or thirty thousand dollars PER CLIENT if their customers are stuck in no fly or no travel zones. And let’s not talk about the costs if one of themis stuck in the rorting US medical system

China’s Gift has a fat tail. Right now, like an unhappy cat, that tail is swiping all the good trinkets off the bench!

BBC Article on the Future of work and the likely skills needed

Oct 14, 2018

it’s OK not to know your career path when you leave university – sometimes that won’t emerge until much later down the track,” Barber says. “We should remind kids that the pathway they select to start off with is unlikely to be their final pathway,   Was interviewed by #TheodoraSutcliffe who wrote this article for…

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Inverting the City/Country Dynamic

Aug 17, 2018

At a recent session with the Gen Y group working on the ‘Future Melbourne’ project for the City of Melbourne I suggested that the group consider what the result might be if they could ‘invert’ the way the State of Victoria operates. What would you be likely to see if more of the functions of…

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When it comes to decision making ‘Bias’ can be friend or foe

May 19, 2018

McKinsey’s interview with Richard Thaler on ‘debiasing the corporation’ is a really good one. I’ve spent the best part of two decades trying to help organisations unpack their biases through the use of foresight. I recommend this article to you   Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler offers some great insights as to how to make more…

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Disaster Ahead for the People of Ipswich

Apr 22, 2018

As the Ipswich Council has determined that recycling schemes are too expensive and indicates it will end collections, the question is ‘what happens next’? If result of the explosion in Tip fees by Councils around Australia is anything to go by, what happens next will not be good   China recently decided to end acting…

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Using Foresight Thinking to Enhance the Productivity of Nations

Mar 8, 2018

As Nations look to develop their understanding of Productivity and more effective planning, National Productivity Councils are often the first point of call for Governments looking for ideas. The Asia Productivity Organisation has been running since 1961 helping its member countries develop more effective approaches. I’ve just spent a week in Tokyo helping a group…

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Saving the Polar Ice Caps

Aug 16, 2017

Okay I admit that on the first take this idea might sound a little crazy. I reminded myself however of that saying that ‘all great ideas must at first sound crazy to the existing paradigm…’ or some such thing. You might know who said it (please send me an email if you do). So I…

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To Manage Your Expectations, First You Need to Know What They Are

Jan 27, 2017

We all use words that tell us about the results that were achieved and whether our expectations were met, missed or exceeded. Surprised? Disappointed? Delighted? The only way you can experience these emotions and others like them, is to have an expectation in mind. And the ONLY way you can teach your organisation to learn…

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There’s No such Thing as a Normal Future

Dec 8, 2016

The last couple of months have been hectic to say the least, with a myriad of client engagements across an array of industry sectors. And as you can see from the list below one thing is clear: EVERYONE wants to understand what is shaping their future and how they might be able to influence that…

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I’m nominating 2016 as The International Year for Consumer Fightback

Nov 19, 2016

Those of you that have been tracking this website for a while will know that towards the end of each year, I nominate the following year’s area of focus. For instance I declared that 2015 would be the International Year of Battery Technology, and as the news stories, product research and renewables push shows, it…

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Planning Tips for Local Government Agencies

Sep 21, 2016

I’ll be helping to kick off the Local Government Corporate Planners Conference in a couple of weeks, offering some thoughts about emerging issues for Councils and an approach to planning that should alleviate some issues for them. You can find details in   this link to the conference program which is being held at Citadines…

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