What personal information does Latrobe collect?

Collection of your personal information

We will not collect from you any personal information unless that personal information is necessary for one or more of our functions or activities and where lawful and practicable, we will let you deal with us on an anonymous basis should you prefer.  However, we recognise that this will not be practicable in many instances..  In any event, we will always collect your personal information by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.  When collecting sensitive (including health information), we will only do so with your consent or in accordance with the National Privacy Principles.

At or before the time we collect personal information about you (or if that is not practicable, as soon as practicable thereafter), we give you a statement detailing our information handling practices and contact details.

Where it is reasonable and practicable to do so, we will only collect personal information about you from you directly and not from third parties.  However, in many instances, this may not be practicable.  For example, personal information (including sensitive and health information) may be collected from members of your family especially where a family member is the member named as the policy holder in a family cover policy.  Also, we may collect it from:

• hospitals and medical and other health service providers;
• your employer if you are part of a payroll deduction scheme or similar; and
• government agencies.

In particular, we will only collect sensitive (including health) information directly from you or from third parties with all necessary consents.  Where you are under the age of 16 years necessary consent may mean the consent of an appropriate adult who is most likely to be the member named as policy holder in respect of any family cover policy where there may be entitlement to benefits if you receive treatment. 

By supplying sensitive (including health) information about yourself or any dependant when making a claim for benefits or generally relying on any of our services which involve the collection of sensitive (including health) information from you or third parties, you will be taken to have given your consent to the collection of that sensitive (including health) information from you or those third parties and where dependants are involved, you will be taken to have given:

• if the dependant is aged under 16 years, the consent of that dependant to the collection of the sensitive (including health) information about them; and
• if the dependant is aged 16 years and over, the consent of that dependant to the collection of sensitive (including health) information about them and with the authority of that dependant.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

Latrobe collects, uses and discloses your personal information for a range of purposes.

We collect your personal information to enable us to provide the products and services you have come to expect from us as a  health insurer concerned with your interests.  These may include both health benefits cover and any general insurance taken out through our underwriter as well as a range of other products and services which we bring to you either directly or as agents for others, including travel insurance and ambulance cover.  We collect it also to enable us to fulfil our legal obligations as a private health insurer and as an agent for a general and travel insurer.  This personal information assists us in connection with the range of activities required to be undertaken by us to provide you with these products and services including:

• establishing and maintaining your membership, which includes processing applications and related administrative tasks such as changes to contact details or other information;
• processing health and general insurance claims and paying health benefits;
• updating the terms and conditions of your membership from time to time in accordance with changes to fund rules;
• providing you with information about products and services offered by us and others which we believe may contribute to the overall health of you and your dependants or meet your other insurance requirements;
• collecting, compiling and disclosing data (including sensitive and health information) to governmental authorities where we are required by law to make such a disclosure;
• administering general insurance policies on behalf of our underwriter and the policies or cover provided through others including travel insurance and ambulance cover; and
• making any other use of disclosure of that information as may be required by law.

In the course of carrying on our functions and activities we may be required to disclose some or all of your personal information to a range of other individuals and organisations.  Some of these are individuals or organisations who provide services to us to assist us in fulfilling our functions and activities.  Others may be individuals or organisations with whom you have direct dealings and who have provided services to you.  The types of individuals and organisations to whom we may disclose your personal information include:

• our agents who promote or assist us in administering or providing our products and services, such as, for example, printers, mailing-houses, IT companies, Internet Service Providers and other relevant service providers;
• your employer if you are part of a payroll deduction scheme or similar;
• hospitals and medical and other health service providers with whom you have had or may have a treatment episode and to whom fees may be payable;
• our professional advisers;
• government agencies, where we are required by law to disclose this personal information; and
• our general insurance underwriter and other suppliers of products and services offered to you including travel insurance and ambulance cover.

We may also disclose your personal information to the member named as the policy holder (or any other person who lodges an authorised claim for benefits who would normally be the spouse of the member) where there is an entitlement to benefits under a family cover policy.  The named policy holder is responsible for payment of premiums and we are required to keep him or her informed concerning matters relating to the policy including levels of benefits available under the policy at any given time which in turn may depend upon the claims history of the policy.