Andrew Wibberley, director at Alea Risk, says it is worth remembering that on any specific case it is an underwriter’s job to ask the questions, and a customer’s responsibility to answer them honestly.
“We do not need to know anything that we have not asked about” says Mr Wibberley, “so answer the exact question that has been asked and accurately record the exact answer given. Anything else is either not relevant or has been priced for - so don’t try and tell the insurer by adding it into a different free text box or calling us to let us know - it just slows things down.
“If a customer is going to be tele-underwritten brief them to have relevant information to hand. Reading out hospital letters will save many weeks of searching to try and get them from a GP and means the customer can get a decision, and have the cover they need much sooner.”
This view perhaps somewhat challenges the ‘if in doubt, write it down’ approach, but as with most things in life it is about getting the right balance.
Alan Lakey, senior partner at Highclere Financial Services, says that “if the adviser is obtaining medical, occupational and pastime details it makes sense to do this either with the client present or with them on the telephone.
“This is because many answers invite numerous supplementary questions which may not have been answered adequately on an application or data collection form. Examples being raised blood pressure or cholesterol, where precise readings and relevant dates as well as lipid figures will be requested.”
Obtaining medical records
Obtaining medical reports can be a long process, where the client and insurer are at the mercy of the GP getting back to them in a timely manner, alongside the rest of their hectic schedule.
In a bid to speed up this process, SARs (Subject Access Reports) are being requested in some cases rather than a GPR (General Practitioner’s Report).
SARs requests give insurers access to a person’s entire medical history, to which the doctor must respond within a specific timeframe.
The industry has been warned that requesting information through SARs is an inappropriate abuse of people’s right to access medical information and that a GPR is what should be used for commercial purposes.
To help speed up the process of receiving a GP’s report, advisers could request that the client contacts their GP personally to speed things up.
Robert Harvey, protection specialist at Drewberry Insurance, believes that the matter of GP reports is something that needs an industry-wide focus on improving turnaround times and report quality, saying “The attempt to replace GPRs with SARs appeared to be a step in the right direction, however this seems to have run into problemsand some insurers have pulled the plug on this, reverting back to GPRs.
