Continuing our review of 2022, the second quarter of the year saw a major IPMI provider exit the market aside from the Americas, Health & Protection host our first international roundtable and IPMI summit, the sector celebrate Pride month and an industry expert pick up an OBE at Windsor Castle.
April
As we began the second quarter of the year, Aetna International revealed it was exiting the international private medical insurance (IPMI) market around the world aside from the Americas, with the process starting in May.
The month also saw Women in Protection hold its annual conference at which Nina Brown, protection and mortgage adviser at Pam Brown Mortgages, revealed that conducting a LinkedIn search and seeing someone who looked like her and held a key leadership role in the protection sector was a source of inspiration.
May
Staying with industry events, May saw Health & Protection host our first IPMI Summit. The inaugural event held at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire saw John Carpenter, chairman of the Association of International Medical Insurance Providers (AIMIP), tell delegates about a large scale sophisticated fraud affecting IPMI providers across the globe with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) being consulted.
The month also saw the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) hold at its annual general meeting.
The standout speech from the day was from former Sky journalist Mike McCarthy, who told delegates about his journey to leading a movement to increase awareness and support for mental ill health following the day which changed his life forever when his son took his own life.
The issue was also highlighted by Alan Knowles, managing director at Cura Financial Services, in May who called on the protection industry to do more to help brokers effectively tackle harrowing calls where customers talk about ending their own lives.
Knowles told Health & Protection about just such a call that he will remember for the rest of his life and the impact it had on him for months after.
June
June was also a month of firsts for Health & Protection as we held our first international roundtable in Dubai where advisers argued minimum qualifications for health insurance intermediaries must be introduced to ensure all customers achieved better healthcare outcomes
The panel also unanimously agreed that standards of many intermediaries need to be increased in Dubai.
But June is also Pride month.
And to kick it off, Health & Protection spoke to Chris Bailey-Munt, B2B content and social media manager for intermediary marketing at Aviva, about considering whether he should refer to his “partner” rather than his husband, the importance of understanding why Pride matters and how everyone in the sector can be encouraged to bring their whole selves to work.
And after it was announced that Johnny Timpson had been awarded an OBE earlier in the year, he visited Windsor Castle to receive his award from then Prince Charles.
Speaking to Health & Protection, Timpson (pictured) described receiving his OBE medal as a “remarkable” experience but said he wanted to share the honour with all of his Access to Insurance colleagues.
