Company leaders are not routinely exchanging their generous private medical insurance cover for whole of workforce solutions.
This is according to a panel of adviser experts, who took part in a panel debate on the second day of Health & Protection’s annual Health Summit at Tylney Hall in Hampshire.
Charlotte McIntosh, director and mid-market proposition lead at WTW Health and Benefits GB, (pictured left) told delegates that clients she spoke to were not getting rid of their “full fat” PMI, adding their focus was very much on their employees who had no cover at all.
Emma Wood, director of healthcare at Broadway Insurance, (pictured centre) agreed, clients do not want to downgrade the cover they have in place.
“It’s not a case of CEOs and senior managers wanting to get rid of their full PMI. They want to be inclusive and be able to offer everybody something,” Wood explained.
“So there’s a lot more conversations around having tiered benefits – not just cash plans, screening so they can understand their workforce better as well,” Wood continued,
“Some of these companies are growing at rapid speed but their HR departments are only two people.
“So I believe the reporting side of things, the understanding side of things of what their issues are within the business are quite difficult to identify. And I think that’s where we become advisers and risk managers rather than just brokers.”
Rod Jones, head of sales and operations at ActiveQuote, (pictured right) maintained that demand for PMI will “skyrocket” this year and once the client sees the value of cover, they will want to retain it.
“We’re seeing premiums actually increase. And at the same time, what we call an enquiry at sale – another key metric – they are also increasing.
“The key thing that’s really important is people use the product, using the great services like the virtual GP.
“I use it all the time and family use it all the time, and actually once you’re embedded and you use it, you see value for buying the product.
“And actually it’s quite hard to stop doing. So our renewals are really high and I think that’s because the product adds value and the customer can actually see it.”