The General Insurance Standards Council (GISC) is conducting a consultation on the practice requirem...
The General Insurance Standards Council (GISC) is conducting a consultation on the practice requirements for private medical insurance (PMI), including common definitions.
The paper, which sets out a number of new practice requir- ements, is aimed at ensuring sales and advisory standards are met, as outlined in the current Private Customer Code.
Common definitions for the industry have been developed to help customers understand and compare PMI products. Proposals include introducing consistency of language in plain English for certain core terms and a prescribed format for use by each provider, explaining the basis on which they cover chronic conditions.
The GISC claims common definitions will be regularly reviewed to take account of changes in medical practice, relevant events such as changes in legislation, current market practice and other research.
The new requirements also include details of the infor-mation customers must be provided with prior to commitment to cover or renewal.
If the consultation is app- roved, GISC members will be expected to adopt the rules by the end of June 2003.
Angela Darling, head of policy at the GISC, said: 'The objective is to ensure individuals receive enough information in a form they can understand. This will help them make an informed decision when buying their insurance.'
The consultation period closes on 1 February, 2003. The paper can be downloaded from www.gisc.co.uk.
