Welcome to Private Medical Insurance

 So it's been a while since I have written here. So much has changed !

Since March 2020 the world has changed and the shape of medical insurance has been altered along with the rest of the economy. Like everyone else I've watched as the NHS stepped up to deal with the pandemic in the UK and clapped along with everyone else at the strength and fortitude of the front line NHS and emergency service workers. As a former NHS employee myself as well as a professional in the healthcare sector I know more than the most the focus that has been required during this troubling period.

I'm still here quietly running my health insurance advisory practice working with my wonderful clients in the personal and group sectors. It is noteworthy that the medical insurance sector has carried on, not without incident or hiccoughs but we are here, supporting the NHS more than ever. Given the increasing NHS waiting lists and the fact that the private sector has been able to bounce back to relative normality more quickly I would say to prospective clients that now is the time to take out medical insurance if you were pondering it, either for yourself or your business/staff. Not to 'jump waiting lists' but rather if you are in a position to afford the cover, every claim that goes private helps to take the pressure off the NHS.

If I've learnt one thing during lock down it is that 'quality of life' is possibly our most important asset and the ability to plan and control one's health is a vital part of that. Private Medical Insurance (PMI) is an essential component in the that quality of life equation and I'd welcome any enquiries from people who are interested in discussing that with me.

In terms of client acquisition I do not market direct to the public (other than by this kind of social media posting obviously). Almost all of my clients are via professional introducers : Wealth Managers, Independent Financial Advisors, General Insurance Brokers, Accountants and so forth. If your business falls into one of those categories please do not hestitate to contact me to discuss assisting you with your medical insurance business. I've been working with insurance intermediaries since 1994 and run my own practice since 2010.

Of course if you just want to chat with me about your personal or company medical insurance needs direct as a result of reading this please do contact me, but there is no 'pressure' to buy. I offer a simple consultative approach to healthcare insurance advice based on nearly 28 years of experience in the sector.

I look forward to speaking with you all again as we move forward.

Philip D. Knight

Health Insurance Advisor

07792 075748

philknight@pch.uk.com

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This blogpost is the opinion of the author only and in no way purports to represent Premier Choice Healthcare.

Support for IFA's medical insurance policy holders during the Corona outbreak

It looks as if the infection Rate (R number) in the UK is relatively under control and the lockdown is tentatively reducing.

With this good news the private medical sector will be gradually re-opening to allow more urgent claims and out-patient clinics and this will continue over the Summer all things being equal. The medical insurers now all seem to have a postive response in place for any financial hardships for their policy holders caused by the Covid outbreak and this is backed by some quite thoughtful FCA guidance.

As an adviser on healthcare matters I would strongly acknowledge that this has been an unprecedented event for the UK and our industry with the private hospital sector unanimously giving it's bed capacity to the NHS for three months at the start of the crisis. Fortunately the NHS was able to cope and the private capacity was never really used for Covid patients (in fact some non Corona NHS patients were treated in private hospitals to keep them segmented away from Covid positive cases). This means that the private sector will be able to return to normal very quickly and there are signs of this already.

Very few clients with private medical insurance (PMI) cover in place have, in my experience, cancelled or curtailed their cover and as we move forwards immediate access to treatment for minor or painful conditions will be vital for the self employed and companies as the NHS struggles with the ramifications of changes to it's structures for many months. I hope that the private medical insurance sector will continue to help and support the NHS taking some of the pressure off as things normalise.

Should you need any advice on medical insurance - whether we have an existing business/client relationship or not please do feel free to get in touch - I am always happy to chat all things medical insurance. At this pivotal moment I think the financial services industry needs to pull together and if you need any help or advice on medical insurance, cash plans, EAP, health screening etc. just drop me a line or call.

Please keep safe and look after your families.

Phil

Phil Knight
Independent Healthcare Consultant
Tel : 07792 075748
Email : philknight@pch.uk.com
Web : pch.uk.com/consultants/phil-d-knight/

May 2020

This blogpost is the opinion of the author only and in no way purports to represent Premier Choice Healthcare.

Private Medical Insurance and Corona Virus

As readers of this blog will know I am medical insurance broker with many years of experience.

At the moment I am working closely with clients (both personal and company) to help them to maintain their medical insurance cover at a difficult time. This is important because if your cover is just cancelled it might then be difficult to put it back in place in several months time and maintain cover for any pre-existing conditions just as the point you need this benefit the most.

The Medical Insurers are working extremely hard to help their policy holders maintain cover and I can assist by liaising with them for you and suggesting changes or alternative strategies - my brief message to anyone or any company with medical insurance is that if you have cover but are considering cancelling at the moment please just give me a call or email to discuss - I might very well be able to help you whether you are an existing client of mine or not.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this kind of cover because when the corona virus pandemic dies down and things return to normal the NHS will still benefit by those with private insurance taking the pressure off the public sector where possible.

Please keep safe and look after your families.

Phil

Phil Knight
Independent Healthcare Consultant
Tel : 07792 075748
Email : philknight@pch.uk.com
Web : pch.uk.com/consultants/phil-d-knight/

April 2020

This blogpost is the opinion of the author only and in no way purports to represent Premier Choice Healthcare.

Fit Over 40

Bit of a change from work posts this morning.

Am on a bit of a health kick at the moment. The family and I are trying to eat a bit healthier at the moment, reducing processed foods and sugars whilst switching over to more fruit, roughage and cooking from scratch. In addition I'm ramping up the exercise level and have been for a few weeks now.

I regularly post about this on Twitter and Instagram and wondered if readers of the blog might give me the odd additional subscription or just a view !

I'd like to create something a bit more meaty that ties in health and fitness with entrepreneurship but need an awful lot more followers in order to justify spending the time on that as well as the 9-5.

Here's where you can find me :

@localventure1 and @fitover4T on Twitter plus pkn4395 on Instagram.

Look forward to seeing you there, remember #theonlyeasydaywasyesterday

Medical insurers and renewals

In the good old days one of the insurers I work with (as an independent whole of market healthcare intermediary) would send out the annual renewal terms to me as the broker. I would send it on to the client myself with notes as to the affordability, appropriateness of the cover and so forth. This was usually four to six weeks prior to the renewal date.

As you might imagine this gave me some control over timing and information and in the event of a larger than expected increase on a renewal I could offer the insurers rationale to my client and suggest options without the them having to panic.

Following the introduction of GDPR in 2018 more and more insurers are sending renewal documents direct to the client with the broker copy following either at the same time or even a little later on occasion. In practical terms this has increased my volume of panicky, upset calls and e-mails from clients by 100% (simply didn't have them before this began) and meant that in addition to sending out the renewal in the normal way, as I am required to do by our regulators, I have also had to add in an extra layer of admin to support and resolve clients concerns about their renewals.

The purpose of this post isn't to moan about insurers renewals - as annoying as this might be the insurers are simply trying to process client data properly - but rather to let you all know that it is not the broker who has made this change and in some ways it actually increases the pressure on insurers to reduce their renewal price - historically a calm reasoned e-mail from me in advance, explaining how an increase breaks down was often enough to secure the increase for the insurer at renewal (if I felt it was fair and reasonable to accept of course) but now, having upset the client by sending out the renewal to them first with just figures and no explanation at all even with my viewpoint later clients can be too annoyed to just accept what otherwise might be an appropriate renewal increase and demand a discount or even to move provider. So more pressure on the insurers renewal price to come down and thus lower revenue for their business.

In this respect, changes brought about by GDPR and to insurers renewal process are, I might suggest, a bit of an own goal ?

Summer time and medical insurance

Summer tends to be a quieter time for a lot of businesses as people drift away on holidays from the beginning of June right through to early September. Add in the long school summer holidays and sometimes it feels as if there is no one in some offices and workplaces.

It is a time of year though that I often warn clients about - do not ignore the your medical insurance renewals if they are due during this time period. I often get calls from clients and prospects in the middle of September saying they want to make a change in their plan or move insurer or indeed even set up new cover effective from 1st of June or July but because they've been away and forgotten (often despite numerous chases from me) they leave it too late.

Generally if we are setting up cover or reviewing an existing plan then quotes only last thirty days and the most we can ever backdate anything tends to be the same time period. Due to understandable underwriting commitments insurers will not allow exemptions and going away on your hols is no excuse I am afraid.

If you'd like help with your medical insurance renewal please just let me know :

Phil

Philip D Knight

Healthcare Consultant

M: 07792 075748

T: 0113 2505702

W: www.pch.uk.com

Welcome to Leeds Premier Karate in Yeadon

It's a new year and I've been running training at our Leeds Dojo for over three years now - club membership is growing slowly and I'm hoping to take on board some new beginners in the coming months

If you would like to learn #karate in the #Leeds area then visit my newly updated website - we have spaces for beginners starting now - https://yeadonkarate.weebly.com/lpk-beginners.html for more information visit the website

Contact Sensei Phil Knight
07792 075748
pkn4395@gmail.com

Brexit - my perspective

Sometimes I idly wonder what life might have been like had the UK voted to remain in the EU in 2016. I also wonder what might have happened had those people in power and their minions who preached the litany of Leave had actually been truthful about the implications of that decision over two years ago.

Either way we (the UK) seem to be plunging headlong into a catastrophic political and economic abyss with no one with any common sense at the tiller.

The fact now is that in essence, as I type in mid January 2019 the UK has no workable government. Nor a viable alternative to the shambles that is currently 'in power' in Westminster. If one watches any news program, the discussion of British politics has almost stopped unless there is some kind of cock up (Windrush, Grenfell, Loss of 5,000 jobs at LandRover, Collapse of Universal Credit etc.) and all that remains is Brexit.

Following the defeat of the government on various votes in the lead up to the eventually pulled 'meaningful' vote before Christmas 2018 and the same pending vote, scheduled for next Tuesday we seem to have no coherent thought leadership from any political viewpoint.

The right wing of the Tory party seem to want to force a hard Brexit with no deal in place with the EU. The left wing of that same party are working actively with Labour to undercut the deal Prime Minister has negotiated with the EU and the Euro Sceptic centrists, largely the PM, cabinet ministers and their juniors, vastly in the minority of the Parliamentary Conservatory Party are becoming very boring repeating the same mantra about the best and only deal available.

Meanwhile, Labour seem to have no position other than to be against everything Tory and demanding a general election which, on todays opinion polls (and depending on who offers a second referendum one suspects) no one would win outright and plunge us into an even deeper crisis potentially. My question to Labour would be - what the hell is your position other than wanting an election.

The frustration is of course, now that the truth is out and everything about a post Brexit arrangement, regardless of the type of Brexit : soft, hard or evenly fried is worse it seems than being in the EU. It is difficult to imagine any final result which won't continue political, economic and social upheaval for a generation to come. We are a nation of shopkeepers lead by a generation of the politically naive for whom Brexit has become an exercise in intransigent ego stroking.

Yes, 52% of the voters (who could be bothered voting) in 2016 asked to leave but one suspects that for those same people asked now the answer might be very different. Whoever 'wins' the forthcoming events in the next few months and years the British population will ultimately be the losers and the political landscape will inevitably be l littered with the careers of both Remainers and Brexiteers whose misjudged policies have lead us into a national morass.

Welcome to 2019 !

As we move into 2019 I wanted to drop you all a note and apologise for my dismal lack of marketing and social media work in 2018 - one of the issues around building a busy practice and supporting a number of introducers and their clients on medical insurance is that you get really busy ! This means of course that the first thing that slips are blog posts and the like. However in 2019 one of my resolutions is to try and communicate a bit more with my introducer clients both via the occasional marketing e-mail like this one but also on my blog (www.localventure.blogspot.com) and also via Twitter (@localventure1) and the like. 

If you do have any medical insurance queries you would like answered I am always here to support you, as I note below :

This year have a think about the following potential classes of medical insurance client you might refer, this might include :

Your existing SME clients who don't have cover in place - new medical insurance plans for small corporate clients are an awful lot cheaper than most clients think, there are therefore very few barriers to purchase.

SME's with a current PMI plan that hasn't been reviewed in a while - any company plan which hasn't been properly reviewed in the last year or two needs urgent assistance in my opinion. Many of the larger national PMI brokers (and some big regional specialists) often don't bother to even contact clients at renewal and when they do it is a largely perfunctory and inflexible service. Lots of 'low hanging fruit' to acquire out there.

Individual and high net worth clients with : BUPA, AXA PPP, Aviva or Vitality Health - legacy personal business is relatively easy to acquire and move to a lower cost proposition. Client with these large insurers are likely paying too much.

Older clients whose prices have rocketed upwards - there comes a point where pricing is simply too high for older clients. This is not insurmountable and in many occasions we can help clients up to the age of 79 plan a move of insurer to 're-set' their pricing at a lower level.

If you would like to discuss any prospective cases with me or need general advice on medical insurance - just call or e-mail me.

Regards

Phil

Phil Knight
Independent Healthcare Consultant
(Part of Premier Choice Group, FCA No. 312878)
T. 07792 075748
E. philknight@pch.uk.com
W. www.pch.uk.com/consultants/phil-d-knight/

Spark Email for Mac

If like me you've been a user of the Mac OS Email client for years you'll probably be as frustrated as I have been with it's idiosyncrasies and slow-downs. After 12 months of working like a snail and then more recently three days where it took 20 minutes or longer to load an e-mail, type and send it I have finally given up and moved over to Spark.

Two minutes to download from the App Store and then about five to configure the two accounts (business and personal) I need to use on a regular basis and I'm good to go.

Will no doubt come across issues - wondering whether my automator emails which I use multiple times a day in my standard workflow will operate but even if they don't it's taking so long to process one email out that I'd be quicker typing the things all from scratch anyway.

Here's to, hopefully working at normal speed again !