Bringing up added-value tools and services when facing clients can be difficult, especially for advisers looking to explain the benefits in a post-pandemic world.
For its part, the coronavirus pandemic has sped up changes that have been apparent for decades in the industry. It has placed a spotlight on the immense value of the numerous health and wellbeing services available through protection and health insurance propositions.
It has highlighted the need for both employers and employees to take an active role in preventing serious health conditions or managing them appropriately. It has brought to the fore the range of services available digitally and the ease with which they can be accessed in a pandemic and outside of one too.
But according to Claire Ginnelly, managing director of Premier Choice Group, the Covid-19 virus has demonstrated, very well, the need for additional benefits in particular, and as a result, conversations about them have changed over the last few months.
"Virtual GPs, online consultations and mental health support have all been needed and used massively over last few months and this is why they play a crucial role," she explains. "For employers, online and virtual appointments with professionals/counsellors offer a very cost efficient way of providing support and should reduce absenteeism.
The protection and insurance industry has long classed these as ‘added value' services but today we find ourselves in a world whereby these are integral and essential benefits for the majority of these products.
Ian Sawyer, commercial director at Assured Futures agrees stating added-value services should become "synonymous with all types of life and health insurance".
"Health insurance especially so, because a client does not see health insurance as compensation for loss (life, home, car) but a membership to manage their healthcare needs. So added-value services help enhance this concept by making us use a more regular activity via digital GPs etc."
