Frank Levene, chief executive and founder of health insurance company Passport2Health UK, tells Nicola Culley about his innovative PMI product offering medical treatment abroad .
Levene’s overseas innovation has not been without its barriers. The main issues people had with this style of cover, Passport2Health found, was travelling abroad to undergo treatment alone, away from home and reservations about communication.
Levene said: “We pick hospitals that are competent in speaking English. And part of the cover will be the option to take someone with you. We did a lot of research to find out what people were worried about most and the barriers and tried to provide an end-to-end service and settle any concerns.
“I have been to see every hospital myself and we have been very careful in the hospitals we have chosen. Western Europe is where most people would feel the happiest about going. Putting this all together has taken a huge amount of compliance and commitment. Our policies are underwritten by lawyers.”
Passport2Health took brokers out to visit one of its hospitals in Barcelona in May this year. And it will be running another trip in September.
It currently has 20 hospitals in its network and is poised to sign on the dotted line in the Algarve. Prague and Poland will be next on the list.
“People are travelling more and more overseas for second homes and it is becoming easier to travel. So this seems a natural development,” Levene said.
But travelling overseas for holidays and going abroad for hospital treatment for most would be very different ball games – how appealing will this proposition be in reality? What are the expectations for take-up?
‘A solution for everybody’
Levene explained these products were not for everyone, adding: “We offer cover for people all the way up to 79 years old. This may not be for everybody but then we are not trying to provide a solution for everybody. Whatever age, there is an option.”
He explained the product had been designed to appeal to those prioritising quality of care. Levene said 60,000 people were travelling outside the UK to get treatment as it stood, but there had not yet been insurance company to take advantage of this.
He added: “I think certainly treatment abroad needs to be a choice now. Certainly within Europe it would provide more choice and raise the bar for the PMI market. UK hospitals are community hospitals so the number of people travelling for treatment is small. It is a parochial market.
“In the UK there is hesitancy to develop products like ours because many think this overseas travel would upset medical providers here if it was taken out of the country. They think it will disturb the traditional model.”
