Annual Report 1997/1998 - Munich Re

Munich Re Topical subjects
RehaCare
66
Rehabilitation after serious injuries
Every year German liability insurers
pay large sums to indemnify the
financial consequences of serious
injuries. Besides the medical costs, a
factor of substantial importance in these
amounts is loss of earnings. Owing to
lasting effects of injuries, accident
victims often stop working permanently,
so that loss of earnings has to be indemnified
for the rest of their working
lives. In many cases even a reduction in
earning capacity of less than 50% leads
to complete loss of earnings, with
people who lose their original jobs
frequently not being able to find their
way back into the world of work.
But there is agreement among experts
that these accident victims can
work again if they are given appropriate
help. Efficient rehabilitation must pursue
two goals: restoring the victim’s
health as fully as possible (medical
rehabilitation) and reintegrating the
person as soon as possible in the world
of work (vocational rehabilitation). If this
can be done, then the insurer’s claims
expenditure can be significantly
reduced.
Owing to the large number of cases
that need to be handled, public bodies
are often unable to provide the necessary
support, acting too little or
too late or arranging for retraining that
is overcostly or has little prospect of
success. This situation is very unsatisfactory
for liability insurers. They
are keen to do what they can to remedy
it in the interest of all parties and to
assume responsibility by helping to
significantly improve accident victims’
lives. For this purpose, private service
centres have been created. They are
designed to ensure that sensitive,
intensive and above all rapid rehabilitation,
tailored to the accident
victim’s personal circumstances, begins
as soon as possible. Experience to date
has shown that even the currently
unfavourable situation in the labour
market need not be a barrier to the
successful reintegration of many
accident victims in working life.