More members and the introduction of virtual GP services are key factors behind increased private medical insurance (PMI) growth.
This is according to Peter Connor, managing director of Healthcode, (pictured) who was speaking at LaingBuisson’s Private Acute Health Conference in London this morning.
“There is no doubt that membership is up,” Connor told delegates.
“One of the facilities Healthcode offers as part of its processing is we have got oversight of insured membership databases to make sure that when we process a claim it’s a current insured member and all those databases are up.
“There is no doubt that memberships is up and quite significantly.”
But Connor added another factor behind the growth is virtual GP services.
“The other thing that PMIs have all done is online GP services,” Connor continued.
“I genuinely think that has made it a lot easier for a client to get into secondary care. A lot of the PMIs offer that now.
“Someone like me, a 55 year old male, the last place I’m going to go to is the GP. But if I can have a video appointment with Babylon or DCA or whoever it is, I’ll do that.
“And so I think the PMIs have made it a lot easier to claim.”