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Key Policy Work Relevant for Health Insurance

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Key Policy Work

The ABI is working across a wide range of health policy areas. These include campaigning on Insurance Premium Tax, producing consumer guides to explain and promote health insurance products and improving the ways insurers request and obtain medical information from GPs. The ABI regularly issues guidance for its members, reviews the Concordat & Moratorium on Genetics and Insurance and demonstrates to policy makers how health insurance can benefit society as a whole.

Key health insurance policy work

We work closely with regulators and our members on the UK’s implementation of the Insurance Distribution Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation, value measures and renewal pricing, and the challenges of an ageing population. The ABI also helps its members understand regulation being developed by the  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). 

The ABI is part of the Global Federation of Insurance Associations and is working with its members on the development of the Insurance Capital Standard. It is also a member of Insurance Europe, at which it is involved across all areas of insurance, including the Insurance Europe Health Platform.

Genetics and Insurance

The ABI has a long standing agreement with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on how insurers use genetic information, called Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance.

DNAThis has been in place since 2001 and it specifies that a customer can take out insurance – critical illness, income protection, and life insurance – without disclosing a predictive genetic test result. There is only one exception to this agreement, which is that predictive test results for Huntington’s disease should be disclosed by applicants for life insurance above £500,000. This is because of the high likelihood of a Huntington’s disease diagnosis when the gene is present.

The ABI’s current work on genetics largely revolves around maintaining the Concordat and Moratorium and ensuring it continues to work for consumers, insurers and government. The ABI does this by:

  • Setting out how the agreement works and the reassurance it offers to customers
  • Reporting the industry’s compliance with the agreement
  • Educating member firms on the handling of genetic data

A copy of the Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance can be found here.

 

Access to Medical ReportsHealth

The ABI has published Principles for requesting and obtaining medical information electronically from GPs. These Principles were put together by the ABI with members and with input from the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The intention of the Principles is to give confidence in, and explain the benefits of, GPs adopting software that allows medical information for underwriting insurance policies to be requested electronically under the Access to Medical Reports Act (AMRA).

The Principles set out the benefits that electronic requests can bring, such as making it easier for GPs and insurers to consistently comply with their data protection obligations, ensuring the correct medical information is given by GPs to insurers for underwriting insurance cover and to enable insurers to offer insurance cover as quickly as possible.

Download the Principles Here.

 

Statement of Best Practice for Sales of Individual and Group Private Medical Insurance

This Statement of Best Practice applies to ABI members selling private medical insurance (PMI) to UK residents, covering private treatment in the UK.

Statement of Best Practice for Health Insurance

The Statement covers individual and group PMI schemes, and requires insurers to use common definitions for specific terms, use standard examples to explain the scope of cover and give information on the extent of limitations of cover.

A copy of the Statement of Best Practice can be found here.