Jelf’s International Account Manager, David Hilton, Talks About the High Net Worth Individual Market in the IPMI Industry

 

 

We’ve had the chance to have Mr David Hilton, Jelf’s International Account Manager for an interview to discuss the company’s latest article about High Net Worth Individuals in detail. Mr David Hilton has been with Jelf since 2010 and has managed international business for the company with high regard.

 

Indeed, the interest in marketing for high net worth locals has been one of the most interesting trends in IPMI in recent years, and Mr Hilton walks us through why there is now need to tailor iPMI products for this market.

 

Learn more about this topic as well as his insights about growing trends this year, and the future for Jelf in 2017 in his full interview below.

 

Q: Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself and your position in Jelf?

A: Jelf is a leading, award-winning UK consultancy providing insurance, employee benefits, healthcare insurance, international healthcare insurance and financial planning services to corporate, SME and individual clients. We work with over 69,000 corporate and commercial clients, covering a wide spectrum from small owner-managed businesses, to SMEs and larger corporate entities. We also have over 45,000 individual clients.

 

Jelf became part of Marsh UK and the Marsh & McLennan group of companies (MMC) in December 2015 forming a perfect partnership between award winning service and global consultancy.

 

I joined Jelf’s specialist international healthcare team in 2010 to manage and expand a portfolio of corporate clients ranging from SME to FTSE 100. My role has since expanded to a number of new areas including promoting our capabilities into the Marsh network and developing a high net worth proposition.

 

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Q: Can you tell us more about your recent article about IPMI policies for high net worth individual?

A: The ‘high net worth’ market has had a significant amount of publicity over the last year and there is indeed a growing demand for ‘gold-plated’ health insurance plans. However the requirements of such individuals are not simple and expectations are usually extremely high.

 

High net worth individuals are traditionally time precious but typically place the wellbeing of their health and that or their family at the top if the list. They are also often foreign nationals and potentially used to a different healthcare system.

In the UK for example a high net worth individual may not wish to be restricted by the GP referral system and have the flexibility of by-passing this and seeing a specialist directly or using a private GP and skipping the queue. They may also wish to be able to see the market leading specialist for their medical conditions who are often based overseas.

 

Nevertheless high net worth individuals expect a significant return on their premium investment and simply quoting the more comprehensive plan available on the market does not cut the mustard.  A solution needs to be tailored to their specific needs and wrapped up with a robust service model.

 

Q: Please tell us about Jelf’s solutions for this growing trend in the IPMI market?

A: Jelf high net worth strategy revolves around our aim to become a ‘trusted advisor’ to each of our clients. Taking time to understand individuals and build a detailed picture of their requirements is a fundamental pillar of forming a successfully and long term relationship. Jelf ensure that clients have dedicated points of contact not only during the inception process but continuously throughout the policy year. The availability of a specific individual for assistance who understands their situation in detail rather than a generic team is highly valued.

 

Our in depth fact finding process allows each individual’s needs to be matched up with an appropriate insurance policy. As the demand for international private medical insurance expands beyond the traditional expatriate, providers are responding by developing new products.

Bupa Global as an example is targeting this market with their new “Ultimate” plan which offers members premium health insurance with no annual limits and a concierge service. Jelf also have an exclusive arrangement with Aetna offering favourable premiums and underwriting to high net worth individual with a business. However the wide spectrum of requirements within the high net worth market cannot be met by just one provider and Jelf remain independent and whole of market which is a key part of our success.

 

Q: What are the other developing IPMI market trends to watch out for this year?

A: The world of global health insurance is constantly evolving in response to consumer demands, regulatory reforms and market innovation. We expect this to continue throughout 2017 challenging advisors and insurers to adapt and engineer new solutions. There will be overhanging concerns from 2016 such as the forthcoming Brexit which will need to be considered, but may not make an impact until much later.

 

Regulation will continue to be a key topic and an area of increasing complexity for the entire market. As global demand for medical treatment grows, the pressure on state systems will continue to mount and we are likely to see more jurisdictions incept mandatory healthcare laws – as we have seen with the Dubai Health Authority reforms. This will subsequently put pressure on insurers to ensure that they have admitted and fully licensed solutions in place and on advisors to educate clients on their obligations.

 

The aforementioned regulatory changes and increasing competition in the market will force insurers to innovate. Particularly in the SME market where a number of new product launches are expected in the New Year. We may see some insurers developing a hybrid product between domestic and international healthcare policies designed to suit locations where neither provides an optimal solution.

 

Cost containment will remain an important area for insurers as clients continue to face premium inflation driven by factors such as a growing demand for treatment, medical innovation and medical tourism. Clients will expect to see both premium stability and a value for money. We may see insurers respond to this by including value-adding products to their standard health insurance packages such as personal accident, pre-assignment health screenings and life insurance.

 

Q: What can we expect from Jelf in 2017?

A: Jelf’s primary focus will be to continue doing what Jelf does best; delivering outstanding service to existing clients and continuing to build our reputation as the market leader in the SME sector. We will continue to offer thought leadership on the evolving insurance and employee benefit landscape whilst supporting clients through any changes.

 

Jelf will continue to grow and build partnerships with our new colleagues within March & McLennan Companies (MMC). What is most exciting is the opportunity to bringing together MMC’s global capabilities, knowledge and market presence with Jelf’s service model and innovation to create an unrivalled proposition for our clients.

 

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