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Bupa pledges to make PMI more affordable 28 September 2005 Bupa is pledging to make PMI more affordable and attractive by stemming the rise in premium increases and demonstrating the advantages for customers. Speaking at the annual Laing & Buisson Private Healthcare Insurance Conference, Bupa Insurance managing director Fergus Kee, said: “Anyone who believes that the current healthcare model is sustainable in today’s environment is in denial. The status quo is not an option.” He said that delivering affordable healthcare is the industry’s biggest challenge and that despite the rise in the number of people with medical insurance in 2004, there was no room for complacency. He added: “We need to show demonstrable points of difference between what we offer, and what the public sector offers. We need to slow the rate of premium increases and make medical insurance more affordable. “We need to develop new products, which better meet customers needs. And, for the longer term, we must look to influence the debate on future healthcare funding.” He said that while there were important differences between the NHS and the private sector which are valued highly by customers, medical insurers were not making this clear enough. “We need to demonstrate better the differences in areas that are important to patients, such as speed of access and quality. And where the standard of treatment in the private sector is higher, we need to show this.” He also said the industry needs to work together to make medical insurance more affordable. “We cannot just accept medical inflation as a given and simply continue to pass it on to the customer. The only way to address this fundamental issue is for insurers and providers - hospitals and consultants - to work together.” And he urged them to be “joined up and grown up on this issue” - not to seek short term advantage over each other. “It is disappointing that some private hospital groups still seem to believe that consumers will simply keep on paying more and more for the same thing. I’m sorry, but they won’t. We have to ruthlessly drive for clinical quality and value for money,” he said. One way Bupa plans to do this is by contracting with hospitals and doctors to provide a standard delivery of care to give the best possible outcome for patients at a cost effective price. He added that the industry should also play a greater role in healthcare funding. “In Ireland and Australia for example, about 50 percent of the population has private cover. People there have more choice, are more involved in their healthcare and in doing so reduce the strain on the state system and the public purse,” he said. “This is not a simple agenda and will not happen overnight. But if we all work together - and by all I mean insurers, hospitals and consultants - we can develop and grow our industry, deliver better, more affordable products and services to our customers and really improve healthcare in this country for the benefit of all.”
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