Company director believes people need to wake up to the reality of PMI
Customers should be educated on the benefits and affordability of private medical insurance (PMI), according to a director of a medical insurance intermediary.
Reacting to what he believes is a consumer attitude that wrongly perceives the product to be an expensive luxury that enables people to receive better treatment than others, Stephen Walker, director of Medical Insurance Services, said PMI was not only becoming more affordable for larger numbers of people but was increasingly a necessity.
He said: "I think as an industry we should concentrate more on good publicity to educate the consumer with regard to the affordability of PMI and the need for it in today's world. We have got the NHS but PMI has never tried to replicate that - it has always been there to fill in the gaps, the sort of areas where the NHS is seen to be lacking. I really think we should be looking to get the message across to the consumer that it is an affordable product and it is necessary for a lot of people, probably more so now than in the past."
He added consumers should investigate the characteristics of different medical insurances and their prices and PMI is now more affordable than ever before.
Walker also made reference to the ongoing developments and new concepts that have been seen in the last couple of years which he claimed had addressed the issue of affordability around the product.
Walker's announcement closely followed the Association of British Insurers' revelation that the number of people being covered by PMI had increased to more than 6 million for the first time in five years.