Table of Benefits / Table of Events (Leistungstabelle)

Function

International personal accident and group personal accident wordings in the Anglo-Saxon-influenced market do not describe the insured benefits by way of a degree of disability but through a table of benefits (also table of events or scale of compensation): each defined event (“event” or “item”) such as accidental death, loss of limb, loss of sight, loss of hearing, loss of speech or permanent total disablement is linked to a fixed percentage of the sum insured (“compensation”). If the event occurs as a result of an accident, the percentage is paid without further medical grading. For impairments not listed, the insurer sets a percentage consistent with the table under a fallback rule.

Illustrative Values (Continental Scale)

The structure, often referred to as the “continental scale”, typically – the values are illustrative and product-dependent – rates the loss of both hands, both eyes or two limbs as well as permanent total disablement at 100 %; the loss of one arm or leg is valued at 100 % or at reduced rates (e.g. 70 %) depending on the wording, and the loss of sight in one eye typically at 50 %. Fingers are graded: thumb around 25–30 %, forefinger roughly 10–20 %, other fingers 4–10 %, individual phalanges correspondingly less. Cumulative benefits from one accident are usually capped at 100 % of the sum insured.

Distinction from the Gliedertaxe

The German and Austrian schedule of disability percentages (Gliedertaxe) is part of the assessment of a degree of disability to which progression and the sum insured are then applied; partial losses are rated proportionally, and outside the schedule the overall medical impairment is decisive. The table of benefits, by contrast, is event-based and generally designed without progression. In international programmes with master and local policies it must therefore be checked whether local schedules or a uniform table apply and how differences are balanced through DIC/DIL cover.