PMI: Axa PPP Healthcare picks up pieces as L&G Healthcare closes for business
By Johanna Gornitzki
Legal & General Healthcare has withdrawn from the private medical insurance (PMI) sector.
The provider closed for new business on 28 February and will exit the market on 2 July this year when it will stop issuing renewals. However, pipeline business entered before or on 28 February will continue to be processed until 30 March.
Berni Ryan, spokesperson for Legal & General Healthcare, said the firm's decision followed a review of the provider's business, which showed that "the PMI sector had been doing well but had not kept pace with the rest of the business".
However, Ryan insisted the move did not mirror the performance of its latest offering, Healthcare Choice, which was rolled out last June. "Although it has been extremely successful, we want to concentrate on our core business, which is household insurance," she added.
Axa PPP Healthcare has made an agreement with Legal & General Healthcare to offer existing Legal & General policyholders cover from the provider when their policies come up for renewal.
A spokesperson for Axa PPP Healthcare said that in the "vast majority of cases" this will allow policyholders to be covered with "comparable benefits" to those offered under their current plan or, if this is not possible, "the nearest equivalent".
IFA Susie Colley, managing director at West Country Health Care, was "livid" about the decision and branded the move "immoral". She said: "I am furious as I have moved about 20 clients all with the knowledge that I could not anticipate what the future may hold but, that said, I did not think that it would be weeks rather than years before I would have to inform them of a change.
"It demonstrates to me the lack of professionalism and honesty in the market at the moment," Colley added.
Legal & General Healthcare has informed its staff of the closure, but Ryan admitted that it was still too early to confirm how many jobs may be lost.
