Biba lobbies Office of Fair Trading on PMI

Head of technical services at Biba Peter Staddon has called on the OFT to examine the duopoly of Bupa and Axa PPP as well as investigate the lack of claims data sharing in the PMI sector.

As a result of the trade body's formal response to the paper, the OFT has requested a meeting to discuss the matter further.

In a letter to the OFT Mr Staddon said: "As you have stated there is a duopoly operating in the market where over 65% of private medical insurance is written by only two insurance companies, Bupa and Axa PPP, if you add in Aviva then this jumps to 75%. Therefore comments made regarding excluding aspects of PMI should be reversed.

"It is a firm belief held by Biba that the OFT should take a closer look at the activities of private medical insurance companies and the effects that these are having on consumers and SMEs."

On the issue of claims data Biba has accused insurers of incorrectly hiding behind the Data Protection Act and Mr Staddon said he has previously requested that insurers detail the terms of the Act which justified the withholding of claims data, but to date had received no satisfactory answers.

Mr Staddon said Biba had been in conversation with the Information Commissioner who felt there was no case to hold back such data and the trade body has also sought clarity from the Financial Services Authority and again it could not see any reason for this position.