WPA is encouraged by its private medical insurance (PMI) sales volumes so far in 2026 noting business has remained “strong” despite fears the market could slow down.
However, the insurer highlighted a growing, although still limited, trend of consumers taking out PMI to address pre-existing conditions and not declaring them at inception.
WPA commercial director Mark Southern (pictured) told Health & Protection the insurer was pleasantly surprised by activity in 2026.
“Sales have been strong this year,” he said. “We thought demand might tail off a little bit, but it’s doing about the same as 2025.”
Underwriting misrepresentation
However, Southern noted the insurer was seeing more people trying to make major claims immediately after taking out cover, indicating an increase in misrepresentation and hiding pre-existing conditions at underwriting.
Southern explained that while this was not a massive surge it was enough to be noticeable and “happens everyday”.
“I feel sorry for the individuals trying to get help and our people on the phone handling it,” he said.
“But we have also got to make sure something is a valid claim or whether we need to turn it down.
“We spend a lot of time making people understand the moratorium rules and we work very closely with advisers to understand what we are looking at in terms of declaring medication and ongoing symptoms.
“Lots of people join, claim and then cancel if we don’t approve the claim.”
He added it was vital to build partnerships with advisers in this so they could help emphasise the importance of declaring any conditions to customers at inception.
Pathways and self-serve
In terms of other trends and development WPA has been seeing this year, Southern noted the growing use of care pathways for treatment, which can help to control cost increases.
For businesses in particular, he highlighted their importance in being utilised well and that they do not affect no claims discounts.
The insurer is also planning to further develop its app giving more options for members to self-serve their needs where wanted.
“We’re looking to build more usability into the app, giving the option of members doing more themselves and we’re improving the claims management process,” he said.