The last-minute word

More feisty stuff from our leader on the practice of allowing the holding insurer the last chance to match on review quotes http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/cover/feature/2086698/-minute-word-risk-renewals.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know! news@ellipse.co.uk

We're very ple-eee-ased...

Whole team is really chuffed to have picked up a top 'eee' rating in F&TRC’s Group Risk e-Excellence study.   People expect me to bang on about how great our technology is (and I do not disappoint them!) but when other people give it praise it really adds weight.

To some extent, we were on a hiding to nothing – having set out our stall to be a digital insurer it would have looked pretty weak to get anything other than the top rating – but to have achieved it inside two years of starting the company from scratch is still something we’re immensely proud of. 

The opinions we give most attention to, though, are ones that come from users of our systems, i.e. advisers.  We will shortly be re-running a brief survey (online, of course) that we first ran back in February, asking advisers who have registered so far what they think of the online quotes service.  There are a lot more users now, and we have tweaked the system since the first survey (based on the feedback it provided ), so if you get the email we’d be really grateful if you could set aside a couple of minutes to complete it, even if you did so last time.  If clear themes come through as to the improvements respondents want to see, we WILL act on them.

Group risk...holding on tight !

Holding insurer gets to match.  It’s a well engrained habit.  But there is evidence that as a process it is looking as dated as my Dressdown Friday chinos.  You all know the routine.  The holding insurer always gets last go, sometimes with full details of their competitor’s offer.  Irrespective of whether they have done a good job for the adviser and the client and indeed whether they have been giving the client a fair price in the preceding period of cover.

Now we are properly in the market it is interesting to reflect on patterns of trading and behaviour.  We may be seeing the start of a change in this most persistent of habits.  When the market breaks its habit of asking holder insurer to match, will we then see the incumbent insurers having to sharpen up their service and actually invest in their processes ?  If you get to match even when your service has been poor, why will you feel the urge to change ?

My old guvnor Des Le Grys always taught us that before we strode into any business talks  to have a turn round the block in the other man’s shoes.  I do understand the holding insurer’s position and can see that he or she is not having a great time.  When you defend on a price derived from another insurer’s basis you will probably feel that “ there is no money in it “ and it follows that the prevailing feeling is that there is no margin from which to invest.

Advisers, and I include the major employee benefit consultants in this, are increasingly no longer routinely disclosing the best rate to allow the incumbent insurer to match as the last stage. 

Indeed they are saying to the incumbent “You will not go through to the second round automatically as the holding insurer and we expect you to quote on time according to our agreed plan with the client”.   They say that by doing this they are getting all insurers – and particularly the incumbent - to quote aggressively, by reference to their own basis and earlier.  They tell us that as a result of this change in approach  

ü  they have a faster review process,

ü  more control in their own processes,

ü  lower costs,

ü  are able to meet their deadlines with clients and

ü  are able to prepare their reports more reliably and professionally.

Interestingly they feel they are getting better prices from insurers overall too.  Some of the big incumbent insurers are providing strong feedback – sorry to use that exhausted corporate euphemism – on this change.  Perhaps that is understandable but if you price relative to your own basis you might find that your control of your book and analysis of your business gets quite a bit better.    

Profile of our leader in 'Health Insurance'

Modesty prohibits him flagging it himself, but there's no reason why I can't, so check it out here.

Just one thing to clarify: our online quote system can indeed handle quotes with up to 500 members for group life and 300 for GCI, but if you have larger schemes, we are happy to quote for those too if you send them to quotes@ellipse.co.uk

Absence-minded

Interesting story in People Management showing sickness absence fell in 2010 and that there is no single reason for this, more a combination of various factors.  Highlights the need for everyone involved – employer, benefit providers, absence management professionals and GPs – all to be pulling in the same direction.  Particularly encouraging to see that GPs are starting to play an active role in rehabilitation, rather than seeing their responsibilities end once they’ve signed patients off.

No Cap & No Time

Did you see this article covering the end of transitional arrangements relating to the notional cap?

The deadline is the end of April and if a group life insurance policy doesn’t accurately reflect the new scheme benefit basis there’s the potential for large uninsured liabilities...which will probably be laid at an adviser’s door.

Clients need to make active decisions. They can either introduce a scheme cap within the pension scheme rules or make sure the cap is removed from the insurance cover. The key point is for the insurance cover to match the actual risk.

Where they exist, uninsured liabilities will affect senior employees, and it may mean underwriting is required if benefits are above the free cover level, which could take weeks or months to complete – unless your insurer is offering online member underwriting that can be completed in minutes.

Un-sticking stuck schemes

Many schemes have members who have been declined or postponed at some point in the past. This often results in those schemes being stuck with one insurer because others will load up the rates massively or decline to quote at all. The holding insurer can then dictate terms without having to worry about any competition or revisit their decision to decline/postpone (e.g. someone recently diagnosed with cancer would at that point be declined but after 12 months can often be accepted with a loading)

The good news is we can provide a no-risk way of seeing if any ‘stuck’ schemes can be ‘un-stuck’. Our online member underwriting service can be made available to the declined/postponed members – without switching the scheme to us first – to see if we can offer terms. The online assessment takes on average 15 minutes to complete, and decisions are typically immediate.

If the decision is ‘decline’ or ‘postpone’, nothing has been lost (and the initial decision has been validated) but if any terms are offered, the company is no longer stuck with just one insurer.

More details by contacting our Sales team on 0844 338 0493 (or sales@ellipse.co.uk)

P.S. As well as un-sticking any of your own clients, this could be an ‘in’ to new clients in the same predicament!