Health: Private Medical Insurance

Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, private medical insurance policies are held by some 6 million people. I am grateful to the noble Lord, who is a very distinguished member of the profession, for drawing attention to this matter because it is clearly important for those 6 million people and for the country as a whole that this is a well functioning market. However, that market is the business of the policyholders, the insurance companies and the doctors. The FSA’s role is to make sure that essentially policyholders are sold policies on terms that are fully disclosed to them and that those terms are upheld. In June this year, the FSA carried out a review of the conduct of business rules and found no evidence of risk of consumer detriment in the PMI market which could be addressed by changing its regulatory approach. However, I am sure that the FSA, like the OFT, hears complaints coming in.

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes]

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that quite often medical insurance companies require a direct debit payment and that it is only after the direct debit payment has been made that they inform the person that certain things which they thought were going to continue to be covered no longer are?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I do not pretend to be an expert on the precise ways in which medical insurers carry out every aspect of their business, but clearly, as I said, it is critical that people understand what policies they are buying and that the policy terms are met. That is the critical interest of the Financial Services Authority in this matter.