FOS complaints remain low for PMI - data

Health Insurers were the subject of just 122 complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in the first six months of this year.

The FOS publishes complaints data every six months, covering businesses of which it has received at least 30 complaints and resolved at least 30 cases.

Individual businesses complaints data showed 64 new cases about Bupa during this period, of which 60% were upheld.
AXA PPP was the subject of 58 new cases, with 38% upheld in the complainants favour.

FOS saw Unum complained about in 30 new cases, with 69% resolved in favour of the consumer.

Overall, 45% of complaints in the ombudsman's general insurance category, which includes health and protection insurance, received in the first six months were resolved in favour of the consumer.

The 95 complaints to FOS between April and June concerning private medical insurance (PMI) were upheld in favour of the consumer in 49% of all cases, according to the data.

While this compares to 50% in 2010/2011 it is a significant increase on 2009/2010's 35%.

However, health and protection complaints products make up a tiny percentage of the total.

Over the second quarter of 2011, 81,711 complaints were received across all product areas, with 56025 (69.4%) relating to payment protection insurance (PPI).