The new form is designed to address issues of market uncertainty. It clearly establishes the options a customer has in dealing with a new intermediary or broker, and where a customer only wishes a new intermediary or broker to review their existing policy, sets out a clear timescale for the review period.
The new form and industry standard is the first initiative to be launched by the AMII/BIBA PMI Panel, a group that was established in 2009 to bring together insurers and intermediaries to discuss issues of common concern within the PMI industry. The Panel currently includes representatives from nine of the UK's PMI insurers (who between them represent more than 95% of the UK's PMI market) as well as representation from BIBA's Healthcare Focus Group and AMII.
Peter Staddon, BIBA's head of technical services, said: "We have put these documents together to address market issues of uncertainty and customer confusion where some letters of authority have been mistaken for letters of appointment. We are pleased to put this new industry standard in place to help address these issues for our members."
Andrew Tripp, AMII's Chairman, added: "With the AMII/BIBA PMI Panel we have established a forum which has allowed constructive dialogue between insurers and intermediaries within an environment of mutual respect.
"This new standard form will improve consumer confidence in our profession and bring a level of uniformity across the market in how letters of authority or appointment are handled by insurers and intermediaries. With the support of the UK's leading PMI insurers, I am confident that this will be the first of several initiatives from the AMII/BIBA PMI Panel that will improve standards of service within the health insurance sector for intermediaries and our customers."
