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Comment - Now for some good news…

Don’t let the headlines get you down

David Sawers, Editor

November 2008 News

Maybe it’s just the afterglow of this year’s Health Insurance Awards, but there seems – bizarrely – to be a lot of positivity and resilience around at the moment.

It is all too easy to get cynical or downcast when things start to go wrong and times get tough. However, intermediaries and insurers are a resilient bunch and I have detected a sense of optimism and energy across the sector at present.

The promise of a new heavyweight provider in the group risk arena has enthused even the fiercest of critics – City-based employee benefit consultants – who tell me (in private at least) that they are seeing great improvements in that part of the market already and they see great potential in the years to come. Existing group income protection providers are ramping up their service propositions and if they can get the technology right, the market could really begin to grow.

And as a special supplement included with this issue shows, technology could also help the world of consumer protection through the current economic downturn, reducing costs for advisers and insurers alike.

However, providers of consumer protection insurance could of course take a huge hit as the mortgage market contracts. Nevertheless, there remains a sense of optimism there too. A hugely successful dinner last month to celebrate the launch of reinsurer Pacific Life Re demonstrated that the life insurance industry in the UK is looking to the future with determined resolve.

It is this kind of energy and enthusiasm which should see the health insurance and protection industry through the difficult times to come. Certainly, the energy and atmosphere at this year’s Health Insurance Awards showed me that everyone in this industry remains committed to working (and playing!) hard. While the Awards is, for many, a night to let their hair down, it is also evidence that the sector is in rude health. It is with this energy in mind that we will be rolling out a few small changes to the event over the coming months, so do look out for them.

In the meantime, though, if the doom and gloom hitting the headlines begins to get you down, take heart from the words of this year’s Health Insurance’s Personality of the Year, Val Gooding. People will always need access to high quality healthcare, she points out, and they will always need to have solid financial reassurance that they will be protected should illness befall them.