PMI product innovation and marrying up public and private healthcare sectors will be key to resuscitating the market, according to speakers at an AMII summit panel session.
Panellist Wayne Pontin, chairman of AMII, said the country could quite simply not afford to deliver free health care and PMI products needed to innovate to compliment the system.
One of four panellists Dr Thom Van Every, medical director at Lloydspharmacy, said: "PMI will have to evolve quite considerably to avoid being history. Right now we are in such a period of change it is hard to know how the NHS will evolve.
"It is hard to know what supply will look like and therefore what demand will look like. One area that has been noticeably absent is innovation in product design."
Audience member and vascular surgeon, Dr Maz Mareskandari, medical health officer at Healthnet Services, addressed the panel about what product innovation needed to look like.
He said: "Do you think that the innovation needs to be complimentary cash plans and top ups?
"I think it should be something in the middle of PMI and NHS to be innovative and grab the best of both to come up with products like a managed care organisations model. This would mean insurers do not just dish out when people are ill."
Another audience member pointed out that clients with PMI already used the NHS too, so a complimentary system was already in existence.
Panellist Mark Noble, health and group risk director at Aviva Health, added that cost and price was a massive barrier to the stagnant market.
He said the consumer market had shrunk significantly and unless cost was controlled it would be a major challenge to move forward.
Other discussed topics included; levelling high up front and low renewal broker commissions on policies; sending people abroad for quicker treatment as an additional choice; and hopes for the outcomes of the Competition Commission investigation.
