Insurer service is solid but advisers want more innovation and mental health support, hears Abigail Montrose.
In general advisers rate insurer services well according to the Health & Protection UK Service Ratings Report published earlier this year.
While the overall picture is positive there is still some room for improvement however, with a need for greater product innovation cited by attendees at the Health & Protection House of Lords Roundtable in association with Axa Health.
Marcia Reid, non-executive director of Sherwood Healthcare, noted that service levels are one area where advisers can have a real impact on outcomes for their clients.
“It’s up to us to demand good service, we can vote with our feet,” she said.
“One insurer fell very badly during Covid in terms of their helpline levels, so we couldn’t in all honesty recommend them for new business
“We switched quite a lot of business away from that insurer because we knew people were waiting up to two hours to get a response. So we have some power here – the insurer realised they had to respond because it was hitting them where it hurt,” she said.
Several members of the panel agreed with this, although Healthwell founder Chris Hughes said that while service levels had improved, he still sometimes found it hard to get the support needed.
“Several insurers I call just have a generic number. It doesn’t matter how much business you place with them, unless you’re one of the big firms it can be hard to get hold of the right people,” he said.
“And if I’m having problems, what’s it like for a member or client?”
Relationships are vital
One key to enabling good service is having good relationships with insurers, the panel acknowledged.
“I don’t think it’s rocket science. If you’ve got the right relationships, then hopefully you can get answers when you need them,” said David Middleton, executive chairman of the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII).
“You don’t go calling on the director all the time, do you? But if you’ve got access to them, you go to them when you need to,” he said.
However establishing these good relationships takes time and effort and can be difficult for those new to the sector.
“When we built the network in 2015, we were a mortgage and protection network,” said Amy Wilson, head of insurance at The Right Mortgage & Protection Network.
“We went to PMI providers and said can we get rates please? They said, ‘No, you’re a mortgage and protection network, you can’t have rates,’” she said.
“So we kept on trying, we started going to events, talking to people and slowly but surely built relationships.”
And once you’ve built a good relationship or received good service, it’s worth giving good feedback, commented Penny Jackson, owner of The Insurance Boutique.
“Nobody says: ‘I’ve had a great experience with you today, thank you very much,’” she said.
“So I’ve started doing that now, and copying in the BDM when the service has been good, telling them how amazing it’s been.”
Limited innovation
However, the panel thought there had been little innovation over the last year, particularly in terms of products.
During Covid, insurers responded quickly to the situation and there was a spate of innovation such as new online services.
However since then, the panel argued the product landscape had not changed much.
“I don’t think there’s been much improvement, it’s quite stagnant,” noted Jackson.
There were a number of areas identified where panel members thought there could be improvements. These centred mainly around preventative services particularly in the wellbeing space.
Another area of particular concern was mental health services.
“The biggest killer of males under 50 in the UK is suicide. We talk a lot about having good mental health but not enough is done about it,” said Middleton.
Panel members agreed and wanted insurers to promote mental wellbeing services to people with dependants or teenage children who may benefit from an early age and adopt the habit for a lifetime.