A key concern for many advisers over the last 18 months has been the speed and quality of adviser and customer service offered by several insurers.
High on that list last year were call waiting times, with several providers struggling to keep up with increased demand, and complaints that some callers had to wait more than an hour to have their call answered.
Call waiting times and other service-related issues were a hot topic of animated conversation among the seven advisors who gathered at the House of Lords for Health & Protection’s individual private medical insurance roundtable.
The group discussed the frustrating experiences of the past and the positive strides made by some insurers to improve service standards.
The general consensus among them was that the issue of call waiting had improved thanks to efforts by providers, but some advisers are still annoyed at how that standard and how it was handled at the time.
And while other issues have now come to the fore, there are some positive aspects.
Inconsistent quality
Kim Powell, partnership manager at ActiveQuote said there were some insurers who were inconsistent, with service quality that goes up and down.
That has knock-on effects, as some providers continue to push for a larger share of new business, even though service in other areas is flagging.
Powell said: “There’s one insurer that has quite significant issues. They are better, but they’re still nowhere near what they should be.”
But on the subject of underwriting for that company she said: “Sometimes it can take two even three weeks to underwrite, which is a long amount of time – especially when they’re pushing for a bigger market share.
“They are taking on huge amounts of business and they’re not being able to service it properly.
“And then you see other insurers in the market that will adjust their pricing so that they’re not taking on too much business, so they can service it. So that is another approach.”
Ian Sawyer, commercial director at Howden Life & Health agreed that some providers were overextending themselves and said: “They do not turn off the taps on your business and they still go out selling the product because they can without actually balancing that.”
But he said: “I do have sympathies as well. Post-Covid Aviva said they moved from one in four policyholders making claims to one and three – that’s a massive change.
“But you still have to put your resources in the right place and it just took them way too long.”
Claims service lacking
Claims service is a particular sticking point for some advisers.
Alex Mhandu, head of healthcare at Alan Boswell Group said: “At the moment, we recommend insurers on the basis that should you need to make a claim; it’s not just on price but its on everything else – or it should be.
“Give the client a choice – whether you’re the biggest name, doesn’t matter anymore.”
He said service was lacking for some insurers.
“The support is there, it’s improving – but it is nowhere near where it should be. We almost have to work harder. We have to do too much.”
Several advisers had not forgotten the pain of long call waiting times.
Sawyer said: “To be asking people who are in need of treatment to be waiting 45 minutes is just unacceptable.
“Every insurer surely should have the principle that claims is what we’re here to do. That’s where we put our resources.
“Yet I see countless times in the health and the life insurance industry where that is not the case.”
Other advisers commented that long waiting times put them in a difficult position with their customers.
Sawyer said his company had a solution for that, which was to warn customers upfront about the problems that they may experience when it comes time to make a claim.
‘Pretty good’ broker service
But Sawyer said: “For claims service we shouldn’t bash our partners because without them we are nothing.
“In terms of service, you’ve got to split it into three different groups. Broker service, policy service and claim service.
“Broker service is pretty good most often – its our job to work out the differences between the products and the differences in aspects of the product. So we have to take responsibility there.
“They can’t do our job for us and I don’t want them to.”
Alex Weir, lead individual PMI adviser at Drewberry agreed that insurer service was quite decent.
Weir said: “I generally find if you ask a question, support is there. What a lot of us perhaps need from the insurers is clarity.”
Noting that there were so many differences between providers and their policies, he added: “It ranges so much by insurer you almost need an idiot-proof guide.
“Its why advisers are so important in the conversation, because it is the knowledge aspect that they bring.”
Benevolent view
And Marcia Reid, non-executive director at Sherwood Healthcare also took a more benevolent view.
“It’s very easy to beat up on insurers,“ she said.
“But we work in an amazing industry and I don’t think its too romantic to say that generally most private medical insurance clients get excellent service.“
She added: “The point about consistency is probably more important.
“We all know if something goes wrong and the insurer deals with it well, you’ve actually got a really loyal client and some insurers are better at saying ‘we messed up, we shouldn’t have done it, we are going to make it better’.
“Others may say ‘oh, our claims and service levels are really high’ and we think: ‘No – get real’.
“It is right to get the balance about how much we should do – but let’s not beat up the insurers all the time.
“I feel that certainly in the roles I’ve had, my success has been because I’ve worked with insurers – not against them.”
Peter Lurie, managing director of ProActive Medical & Life agreed and said: “In fact, when it comes to service-related issues for clients the one thing that we get right, is that we say at the first point of call – ‘If you feel like you’ve got a problem or an issue, anything like like that, even if its before you make a claim – call us, okay?
“Because at the end of the day we’ve sold the policy to you. We want to help you through it.
“And that loyalty speaks volumes.”
He also agreed that working with the insurer was key.
“If there’s a complaint that comes through because of a service element with an insurer – working with the insurer is what gets you the results.
“Working against them is just going to push them away or make it more difficult for you.
“If you know in your heart of hearts that you’ve done the right thing for the client from the get go – then it makes the complaints procedure so much easier.”
Use of technology
Technology is another aspect and making sure it is utilised properly. It can help if advisers work with the customer to help them to use the relevant apps.
Sunny Solanki, director of Usay Compare said: “A challenge is ensuring that the technology that the insurers have implemented is utulised, that the app is downloaded and people use it.
“People are now really savvy with phones and iPads”.
He said the technology is no longer just for the youth, and noted: “My grandfather is 100 years old, and he has an iPad.
“I find that clients who have downloaded the app are quicker to register and when they come to make a claim they say ‘I’ve downloaded the app, let me see what I can do on it’.”
But that means getting people to actually use the apps, so that they can get the most out of the services.
Advisers agreed that taking customers through the loading of the app and how to use it was very helpful in getting them to appreciate how convenient they can be.
Solanki said: “Its one of those things, that had you followed-up and got somebody signed up to the app, you probably have a higher chance of keeping them, because they can make use of those services. Whether its health checks or whatever, they are there to be used.”
Another technological issue is that of allowing greater ease with electronic signatures.
Powell said: “One of the only things that is letting some of them down is things like digital capability – things like signing on behalf of the customer, for example, to help make the onboarding process simpler.”
Sawyer agreed, and noted: “Policy servicing is okay – but I’d like to see a lot more in terms of getting people to engage with the product and the app.”
Praise for some companies
Some smaller companies came in for praise for their claims service, and as benchmarks for the industry.
Sawyer said: “Let’s call out the good – companies like Freedom and The Exeter each have fantastic claims service.
“It’s easy to say ‘well, they’re smaller insurers, they can’ but surely that’s the benchmark that the larger companies need to live up to.
“Because nothing can be secondary to claim service.”
Download the roundtable supplement for the discussion by following this link