Discovery completes Standard Life Healthcare deal
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PruHealth has become the fourth largest provider of private medical insurance in the UK following the completion of parent company Discovery’s acquisition of Standard Life Healthcare.
Now that the deal has completed PruHealth covers a total of 700,000 lives and lays claims to a 11 per cent share of the UK PMI market.
Discovery Health CEO Neville Koopowitz has been appointed CEO of PruHealth as part of the acquisition and has transferred to London, while Herschel Mayers continues as CEO of PruProtect.
PruHealth and Standard Life Healthcare will be integrated over the coming months, with a product range combining the current PruHealth products and products previously offered by Standard Life Healthcare to be launched later this year.
Until the two companies have been fully integrated, PruHealth will continue to sell and service the entire product range of both businesses.
A transitional brand - ’PruHealth previously Standard Life Healthcare’ - will be used during the transition process and will appear on claims and renewal documents for Standard Life Healthcare policyholders for the next year.
Other communications, apart from direct marketing, will be transitionally branded for four months, after which all material will be branded PruHealth.
Standard Life Healthcare’s direct sales force will continue to operate under PruHealth but will initially only sell products previously offered by Standard Life Healthcare.
Broker arrangements, customer service and existing policies will not change.
Customers will be contacted and made aware of any changes when policies are due for renewal.
PruHealth CEO Neville Koopowitz says: “The combined business will result in a complementary product range and assets in distribution and service as well as scale in negotiations to benefit clients.
“Brokers are core to our strategy and we are firmly committed to this channel and plan to make further investment in broker distribution going forward.”
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