Bupa has been the latest to warn about the nearing ‘affordability crunch' in the private medical insurance market as premiums continue to rise. What genuine, clean slate innovation would you like to see in PMI - and how possible will real innovation be?
A second big opportunity lies in the corporate healthcare arena where employers are, at last, taking a more proactive approach. Smarter personal health risk management tools, psychological support and line management training all help to get and keep workers well.
And if employees become ill or injured, the introduction of un-taxed rehab cover for lower-rate taxpayer workers, which Dame Carol Black and David Frost called for in the sickness absence review, could boost the market for corporate healthcare cover from its current circa 3m to 10m+ additional workers.
Brian Mellor, managing director, PMI Advisers
When it comes down to it, the problem with innovation and selling PMI is financial. It has always been financial and I do not know if there is an answer to solve this problem. With the economy like it is, the bills for people these days are ever increasing – with PMI it is seen as a bit of a luxury, like we would all love to own a Rolls Royce but cannot afford it. Prices go up alongside medical inflation, which stands at about 8 to 10% every year. One of my clients has had a 16% increase in one year.
Selling more PMI really depends on what your client really feels, so it is as much about how advisers are selling it and who their clients are, as it is about the products.
We have new sales going on all the time, so getting more and better advice will always be an opportunity. But basically, at the minute I am having to work 100% harder to make those sales and keep clients.
England is a bit traditional, which means that anything brought to market that is brand spanking new would be a problem. It is a difficult for relatively new providers to establish themselves, for example overseas treatment in PMI cover like with Passport2Health can get complex. There is always room for new ideas but what these ideas are I do not know.
However, people will always want something a bit better than the NHS. What we need is products that will fill gaps. Some providers do not make this available easily and this needs new innovation. It is about finding something to package together.
