Schedule of Disability Percentages (Gliedertaxe)

Function

The schedule of disability percentages converts a permanent physical impairment into a percentage without the need to examine its effect on the insured’s occupation or daily life in each case. It forms part of the insurance contract and typically assigns a fixed degree of disability to the loss or complete loss of function of an arm, a hand, a thumb, a leg, a foot, an eye or the hearing in one ear. The non-binding GDV model values (section 2.1.2.2.1 AUB 2020) set, for example, 70 per cent for an arm, 55 per cent for a hand, 50 per cent for an eye and 30 per cent for hearing in one ear; partial loss or partial loss of function attracts the corresponding fraction. For body parts not listed, the degree of disability is assessed by reference to the impairment of overall physical or mental capacity on purely medical grounds; several impairments are added together, capped at 100 per cent.

Design in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In Germany and Austria the schedule is an integral part of the model conditions (AUB 2020, AUVB 2022), with the association values expressly non-binding and many tariffs offering higher percentages (“enhanced schedule”). Market practice shows a range: group wordings based on the AUB frequently adopt the model values (arm 70 %, hand 55 %), whereas premium tariffs rate an arm at 75 to 80 % and a hand at 60 to 65 % and additionally list internal organs (kidney, spleen, stomach, lung). Some insurers add a cognitive impairment scale for impairments following traumatic brain injury. In Switzerland, collective accident insurers usually base the disability lump sum on an integrity scale modelled on Art. 24 UVG with lower values (example: arm 50 %, hand 40 %, paraplegia 90 %), while mandatory accident insurance does not work with a schedule but with the integrity compensation scale in Annex 3 UVV and earnings-based disability pensions. International personal accident wordings use the “Continental Scale” with 100 % for loss of an arm or leg and graduated percentages for fingers.

Relevance for Underwriting and Claims

Because the schedule, together with the sum insured and any progression, directly determines the benefit amount, it is a key quality parameter in tariff comparison and in group personal accident placements. In claims handling it narrows expert disputes to the question of functional loss; conflict arises mainly over partial loss of function, pre-existing disability and the concurrence of illness or infirmity (contributory share).