Bupa has today announced plans to offer commission to intermediaries on individual private medical insurance (PMI).
The healthcare insurer will spend the next few weeks seeking feedback from intermediaries, with the intention to launch the new commission model this autumn.
Last year Bupa controversially withdrew from selling new individual PMI contracts through intermediaries. "Challenging market conditions" and commercial viability were cited as the reasons behind the insurer's decision.
Bupa then re-opened its individual PMI broker channel as it tested a pilot proposition with advisers in January.
Meanwhile, in March Cover revealed Bupa had made a verbal agreement in principle with the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries to offer its individual PMI through the body's broker members.
Commenting on the plans, Tony Wood, sales director at Bupa Health Funding said: "A year ago we made the difficult decision to close our legacy products to intermediaries for consumer new business as commercially it wasn't sustainable.
"We have piloted new approaches since then and used the time to gather insight and input from our intermediary partners to help us get to a solution that works for everyone.
"This feedback has been extremely valuable and we believe we have created a new model that will work for intermediaries, Bupa and, most importantly, for our customers."
Wood concluded: "We will use the next few weeks to discuss our proposed solution with the intermediary community and if the feedback is positive we intend to be open for business this autumn."
