Private medical insurers have rebutted claims that rising premium levels are causing the individual ...
Private medical insurers have rebutted claims that rising premium levels are causing the individual PMI market to lose customers.
The backlash comes after Datamonitor released its recent paper, UK Health Insurance 2002, stating that sales are declining as the number of claims being made increases.
The paper explains the private medical insurance (PMI) market has been suffering from low growth rates for several years. It says that this 'has largely been attributable to the decreasing number of individuals taking out PMI.'
Norwich Union Healthcare (NUH) argued that Datamonitor's findings were unfounded.
Referring to the individual market, Louise Zucchi, spokes-person for NUH, said: 'Contrary to the report, figures show that the market is growing. Our lapse rates have not increased in five years. The only area where there is more pressure is in the over 65 band. A small number are finding that as they retire, meeting the premium payments becomes more difficult.'
Similarly, Standard Life Healthcare (SLH) opposed the findings of the report, saying its Choices product has seen sales grow by 24% in the last year.
Datamonitor claims that the average premium for an individual has risen 59% since 1996. In comparison, the average premium for a group policy has experienced a more moderate increase ' from £439 in 1996, to £480 in 2001.
Mike Hall, chief executive of SLH, said low growth in individual schemes could be attributed to high group sales.
'Any decrease in individual PMI could be directly related to the increase in corporate schemes ' an increasing number of businesses in the UK are offering their staff private healthcare,' he said.