For Industry Super Australia the scandal Four Corners revealed around the handling of claims at CommInsure is no surprise.

"They are paying commissions to financial advisers to sell product and, at the same time, they're obviously seeking to contain costs, obviously seeking to maximise profitability," Industry Super Australia chief executive David Whiteley said.

Those commissions are up to 130 per cent of the first year's premium plus smaller commissions for the life of the policy.

The commissions are expensive, which is why Industry Super Australia thinks insurers are clamping down on claims.

It is another reason why Mr Whitely believes the Future of Financial Advice reforms are flawed because they still allow commissions on the sale of insurance.

"There's currently legislation within Parliament that will retain some form of commissions on insurance," he said.

"We think that legislation should be withdrawn and that the banks and the insurers and the Government should work together to ban all commissions on insurance products."

Four Corners revealed a culture at CommInsure of doctors being pressured to change their diagnosis of terminally ill customers, customer files mysteriously going missing, genuine claims of people in desperate circumstances being refused and a whistleblower being sacked.

"That is not good enough when a customer is in her or his time of need," said Ian Narev, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank, which owns CommInsure.

'Bullying' rife in insurer dealings with claimants

However, the issues in life insurance are wider than just commissions.

In the last few years the industry has suffered billions of dollars of losses and Col Fullager, who mediates between customers and insurers, said it is no coincidence the companies' behaviour has changed in that time.

"I'm getting more cases, but not just more cases, but the manner in which they're being handled, I would describe it as a greater level of bullying," he said.

Mr Fullager said that bullying takes many forms, such as valid questions being ignored, lengthy delays for no apparent reason and then more aggressive tactics designed to intimidate.

"They'll be told they have to turn up for an independent examination, but not given any real choice about who's going to undertake the examination, where it will be, what day it will be and so on," he said.

"They're required to attend a factual interview, which may go for three or four hours, and they aren't necessarily invited to have representation there."

DIY insurance policies leave customers vulnerable: adviser

While life insurers are rightly being slammed for that type of behaviour, advances in technology have the potential to bring new grief for consumers.

The financial advice industry fears the rise of online, do-it-yourself-type insurance, will give insurers more ammunition to play hard ball against claims.

Perth-based financial advice industry consultant Sue Viskovic, from Elixir Consulting, said there are big pitfalls.

Sorry, this video has expired Why consumers pay a premium for life insurance ( Andrew Robertson )

"I think people just don't understand what they are looking at and what they are signing up to," she said.

"All that is documented in the fine print that gets sent through to people, but I don't think people are really understanding what they are looking at."

Ms Viskovic said that often means there are problems if a claim needs to be made.

"There's a term which they call 'non-disclosure' and that basically says, you didn't disclose that you had this medical condition when you took out the policy and, if you had of told us, we would not have accepted you," she said.

"So it means they can deny a claim on that basis."

With many years experience around the financial advice industry, Ms Viskovic said she believes advisers earn their money when claims are being made because they know the ropes and can push back against insurance companies who try to avoid paying up.

Cold comfort for the victims of CommInsure who have found that out the hard way.