Axis enters international accident & health market
by Gill Montia
Story link: Axis enters international accident & health market
Axis Global Accident & Health, a division of Axis Capital Holdings, has appointed Giles Allen as senior vice president international accident & health insurance operations, Global Accident & Health.
The firm, which currently markets insurance products in the US, is expanding into the international market.
The new offering under development includes personal and business travel accident programmes [...]
Employers kept in the dark over health concerns
by Gill Montia
Story link: Employers kept in the dark over health concerns
Only 4% of employees in the UK would approach their boss with a health concern, research from Aviva suggests.
The insurer’s latest Health of the Workplace study also reveals that only 1% would approach their HR department with a health issue.
Nearly a quarter of employees surveyed saw their reticence as a matter of personal privacy, however, [...]
Exeter Friendly Society scoops innovation award
by Gill Montia
Story link: Exeter Friendly Society scoops innovation award
Exeter Friendly Society has scooped the innovation award at the Protection Review’s 2010 annual conference.
The Review, which honours the UK’s health and protection providers, made the award for the mutual’s website, which earlier this year received a similar accolade at the Media Innovation Awards.
The Society’s sales & marketing director, Richard Wyatt-Haines, says the latest [...]
Bupa International launches quality assurance programme
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Bupa International launches quality assurance programme
Bupa International has collaborated with Joint Commission International (JCI) to provide a quality assurance programme for its 7,500 recognised providers around the world.
Developed with the clinical excellence of Bupa and the consultancy expertise of JCI and based on international standards, each hospital will receive a set of assessment tools to examine medical facilities and clinical [...]
Exeter Friendly widens underwriting options
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Exeter Friendly widens underwriting options
Exeter Friendly, the private medical insurer, has broadened the underwriting options available for both its Health Cover for Me and Health & Stuff plans.
The enhanced option range, adding to a full medical underwriting option, includes a new fixed 2 year moratorium whereby pre-existing conditions are automatically covered after a 2 year period.
Clients who switch from [...]
Expatriate Healthcare introduces no claims discount
by Gill Montia
Story link: Expatriate Healthcare introduces no claims discount
Expatriate Healthcare has introduced Premium Rewards, a reward scheme for existing and new international customers that offers discounts on premiums of up to 20%.
Policyholders who remain claim free in the first year can earn a discount of up to 10%, rising to 15% after two years of no claims and to 20% after three years. [...]
Heath Lambert continues Diabetes UK partnership
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Heath Lambert continues Diabetes UK partnership
Heath Lambert has won the competitive tender to provide health charity Diabetes UK with personal lines and life insurance products.
Diabetes UK has a membership exceeding 160,000, and selected Heath Lambert only after the firm beat off a number of rival competitors for the tender.
Associate Director for Heath Lambert Insurance Services, Diane Caplehorn, expressed the firm’s [...]
Recession-proof Brits happier than five years’ ago
by Gill Montia
Story link: Recession-proof Brits happier than five years’ ago
Aviva is claiming that almost two thirds (63%) of Britons feel happier now than five years’ ago, and that seven out of 10 are actually content with their current situation.
Research in the form of the Aviva Feel-Good Insight Study also indicates that relationships, security and health hold the most sway with regard to a sense [...]
Crawford & Company enhances Broadspire
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Crawford & Company enhances Broadspire
Crawford & Company UK has announced that it is widening the range of healthcare and rehabilitation services available through its Broadspire brand.
Broadspire UK was launched last year, and offers bespoke TPA (third party administration) solutions.
Broadspire had already operated in the US for many years, employing 2,500 employees and generating Q1 revenue of $74.6m.
As part of [...]
ALC Health launches online “quote-and-buy”
by Gill Montia
Story link: ALC Health launches online “quote-and-buy”
International health insurance specialist, ALC Health, has launched an online quote-and-buy facility accessible via its website.
Visitors to the site, including intermediaries, are able to buy international private medical insurance instantly by completing the online form and paying with a credit card.
The firm claims to be one of only a few companies in its sector [...]
Bupa launches dedicated Group Risk website
by Gill Montia
Story link: Bupa launches dedicated Group Risk website
Bupa Group Risk has launched a new website that aims to provide its intermediaries with a resource that covers all its products and services.
Launched this week, the site offers tailored information such as technical guides, group risk updates and links to Bupa’s online quote facility.
Project manager, Catherine Baxter, says: “ With the group risk area [...]
Workplace sick days lowest on record
by Gill Montia
Story link: Workplace sick days lowest on record
British workers took 180 million sick days last year, averaging 6.4 days each, according to the latest Confederation of British Industry/Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey.
The figure is the lowest since the survey began in 1987, with a small improvement in the public-sector absence rate helping to explain the fall.
However, the public-sector rate remains [...]
Time pressures hamper GPs’ diagnoses
by Gill Montia
Story link: Time pressures hamper GPs’ diagnoses
Aviva UK Health has been surveying GPs to discover that their ability to assess patients is being compromised by time constraints.
According to the research, 57% of GPs questioned said they have less time to see their patients than they did five years ago, and 43% felt this affected their ability to diagnose.
Nine in 10 GPs [...]
Capita swallows up Premier Medical
by Gill Montia
Story link: Capita swallows up Premier Medical
Capita Group has acquired medical reporting and screening specialist, Premier Medical, for a cash consideration of £60 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
According to the outsourcing giant, the move adds “depth and breadth of expertise” to its existing services for the health market, which include running the NHS Choices programme and the health informatics [...]
Time limit suspended for PPI complainants
by Gill Montia
Story link: Time limit suspended for PPI complainants
Consumers complaining about their payment protection insurance (PPI) have been given breathing space by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The regulator has introduced a temporary rule that allows those who have recently complained about the purchase of a PPI policy more time in which to refer their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
The usual six [...]
BIBA appoints Millennium for PPI launch
by Gill Montia
Story link: BIBA appoints Millennium for PPI launch
The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has appointed Millennium Insurance as the exclusive provider of its new members’ scheme for payment protection insurance (PPI).
Millennium, which is the distribution arm of Direct Group, will provide a product to be sold on a standalone basis, with or without a mortgage or personal loan.
Key features of the [...]
Bupa claims a first with Patient Cash plan
by Gill Montia
Story link: Bupa claims a first with Patient Cash plan
Bupa has created a cash plan alternative to health insurance, for companies of any size.
Claiming to be an industry first, Bupa Patient Cash offers a number of the usual health insurance benefits in the form of a low-cost cash plan.
Three levels of cover are available for a fixed annual cost, including up to £600 a [...]
Insurers pay out record critical illness claims
by Gill Montia
Story link: Insurers pay out record critical illness claims
Research from Moneyfacts Group shows that 2009 was a record year for the payment of critical illness claims, as insurers continued to reduce the number of claims rejected for non-disclosure.
According to the financial information provider, an average 90.5% of all critical illness claims were paid out last year, up from 88.4% in 2008 (as calculated [...]
Long-term care provision shunned by advisers
by Gill Montia
Story link: Long-term care provision shunned by advisers
Defaqto has been studying the recommendations contained in a recent paper on the long-term care funding crisis, and is asking whether the insurance industry is up for the challenge?
“Long Term Care of the Elderly: Shaping the Future” is the work of a cross-party group of MPs that proposes a private-public partnership between government, individuals and [...]
Elite targets new markets with enhanced offering
by Gill Montia
Story link: Elite targets new markets with enhanced offering
Elite Insurance has launched a number of products that will support its expansion into new markets.
The legal expenses and financial insurance provider is offering a decennial insurance policy in the French market; as the name suggests, the construction liability cover runs for ten years.
In addition, the firm is offering accident and sickness & unemployment insurance [...]
