The Insurance Helpline
Totally Insured Group // 0800 377 7763

A gay man in Thailand has claimed he was refused insurance because of his sexuality.

According to the Nation newspaper, Natee Teerarojjanapongs attempted to buy a policy from a company’s sales agent but was told it would not be possible because he is gay.

"I’m willing to let them give me a full health check if they think that I’m in a high-risk group. There’s no reason to deny me and other gays or transvestites life insurance," he said.

"We are educated like others in society; not all of us engage in risky behaviour," he added.

A spokesperson for the insurance company in question has pointed out that it does not deny life-insurance policies to any particular group and considers each application individually.

The firm emphasised that life insurance is refused "only in cases such as when the person is over 65 or has a serious illness or a high-risk career".

In 2005 the Association of British Insurers ended the UK practice of asking individuals about their sexuality on application forms for cover.

Previous to this, many gay men applying for life insurance admitted feeling they were treated unfairly.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with medical conditions

Legal & General has extended the maximum it assures for critical illness cover to £1 million.

Taking effect on November 18th, the change will also enable customers to take out an extra £1 million business protection on top of their personal cover.

"People are taking out larger mortgages and they require greater flexibility in terms of the amount of cover they need," explained Bonnie Burns, Legal & General’s protection product marketing director.

The spokesperson for the UK’s leading provider added that the firm has sought to meet the needs of today’s families and businesses while responding to the "changing trends" that underpin the market.

"We believe that there is huge potential to help businesses better protect their key assets - their people - and increasing the maximum sum assured reflects our commitment to this market," Ms Burns added.

Another leading insurer, Norwich Union, recently announced plans to extend children’s critical illness cover to all of its policies.

Having introduced the cover as a standard inclusion from August 2003, it provides a benefit of £10,000 or 50 per cent of the sum assured - whichever is lower - for each child on the adult’s policy.
The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people with medical conditions

Enquiries for private medical insurance more than doubled in September compared with the previous month, according to new research.

The Fair Investment Company claimed that increased reports about poor treatment, superbugs and long NHS waiting lists have pushed people towards private health care, with some even looking abroad for treatment.

"With the spread of infection hitting the headlines and reports of incompetence causing concern across the UK, more and more people feel private healthcare is the only viable option," said Fair Investment director, James Caldwell.

His company’s research revealed that 53 per cent more people were interested in acquiring private healthcare in September compared with August, while around 70,000 Brits are expected to travel abroad in search of medical care this year.

As a result of the current shortage of dentists in the UK, many people are also reportedly travelling abroad for dental treatment.

"Although travelling abroad may appeal to some, there are many private medical care providers to be found in the UK," Mr Caldwell emphasised.

Leading provider Bupa recently adopted a new sales approach to progress the alignment of its private medical insurance, group risk, wellness and occupational health products and services.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with medical conditions

Nine out of ten insurance applicants are willing to undergo a medical examination if it would reduce the possibility that a future claim might be declined, according to the latest survey by Swiss Re.

The reinsurer has released its Insurance Report, which states: "These preferences reflect a lack of confidence among consumers in their ability to complete application forms correctly and, perhaps, a desire to pass the responsibility over to someone they trust to do the job more expertly, typically a doctor."

Swiss Re suggested the introduction of shorter application forms enabling most applicants to be accepted instantly, although these would have to be carefully worded.

The report praised the decision by Legal & General to remove the continuing duty of disclosure up to acceptance.

"This approach has many attractions and would reduce some of the problems occurring at claims stage caused by the duty of disclosure continuing after completion of the application form and ending when the risk is accepted by the underwriter," the report stated.

Swiss Re called for insurers to increase consumer confidence in the area of disclosure.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with medical conditions.

Fraudulent insurance claims worth over £1 million per day are discovered by insurers, according to the latest research by the Association of British Insurers.

The report into general insurance fraud reveals that one in 11 claims is in some way fraudulent. Such claims have tripled since 2003 and in 2006 insurance companies detected and prevented £480 million of fraudulent claims.

Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health at the ABI, said: "Fraudulent insurance claims cost £1.6 billion, and add £40 a year to the premiums paid by honest customers.

But the industry is fighting back. Insurance cheats are more likely to be caught than ever before. And cheats will pay a high price as future insurance and credit will be more expensive and harder to obtain."

The figures show that insurance companies have become increasingly effective at detecting and preventing fraud.

Friends Provident is implementing a new approach to the application process for income protection insurance by having qualified nurses carry out the first stage telephone interview.

The aim is to reduce non-disclosure, speed up the application process, produce more informed underwriting decisions and promote signature free applications.

Nurses will ask applicants questions about their medical history, including detailed questions where specific disclosure is required.

Mark Jones, protection products and actuarial manager at Friends Provident said: "The new tele-interviewing service will speed up processing which will benefit advisers and it will enable us to gather more detailed information about the applicant’s health."

The new process should also reduce the need for GPs reports as the trained nurse tele-interviews provide better information than regular staff.

In many cases the interviews will provide sufficient information to enable underwriting without a GP report.

Friends Provident hopes the application process will be reduced from weeks to days.

The competition is intensifying in the battle to buy life insurer Resolution. Standard Life and Swiss Re are expected to launch a joint bid this week.

Pearl and Royal London saw their bid rejected last week, with negotiations ongoing, as the industry fights to take over Resolution’s closed life funds and protection and health insurance subsidiary Scottish Provident.

Resolution also has a valuable distribution agreement with Abbey National.

The Standard Life and Swiss Re bid is expected to be higher than Pearl’s 660p per share offer. Resolution’s shares closed at 708.5p on Friday.

An offer of around 700p a share would value Resolution at around £4.7 billion.

Pearl already owns 16 per cent of Resolution and the Guardian reports it would be prepared to accept a good offer for its shares.

Meanwhile Resolution continues to take steps towards merger with Friends Provident as it believes this deal is the best value for its shareholders.

Resolution Life has rejected a £4.5 billion cash takeover offer from life insurer Pearl, opting to continue with the all-share merger deal with Friends Provident.

The Pearl offer was 11p less than the price Resolution has been trading at and the Independent reports that Pearl intended to sell Resolution’s Scottish Provident and Isle of Man life insurance arms to Royal London.

However, it appears Pearl is not discouraged, saying the offer is only the start of talks with Resolution.

"The issue is value and the perception of value. It is shareholders who will decide that. Now is the time for further discussion," the company said in a statement.

Standard Life had been expected to make a joint bid with Pearl as it is interested in acquiring Scottish Provident.

Yet another insurer has also requested access to the Resolution dataroom, possibly Swiss Re or AXA.

The Friends/Resolution merger is not due to become final until November 29th, following extraordinary general meetings on November 5th where shareholders will vote on the deal.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with medical conditions.

Private medical insurance companies will now have to provide detailed explanations of their cancer cover after the Association of British Insurers (ABI) introduced new guidelines.

Nick Starling, the ABI’s director of general insurance and health, explained that "for the first time, companies will be required to provide a more detailed explanation of their cancer cover".

"This is because cancer is a complex disease that does not always fit into the standard categories of ‘acute’ or ‘chronic’ illnesses. We hope that the new definitions will improve people’s understanding of private medical insurance and encourage more people to take it out," he added.

"The ABI has been working with member companies, and organisations such as Cancerbackup, to create clearer definitions of medical terms.

Joanne Rule, chief executive of the charity Cancerbackup, has been working with the ABI on the new guidelines and welcomed the announcement.

"Common definitions will bring much needed clarity to people purchasing private medical insurance and allow them to make better informed decisions about the kind of cover they want, and the treatments which would be covered if they were diagnosed with cancer," she said.