A petition calling for an end to insurance premium tax hikes on health insurance will be launched at the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries’ AGM this week.
The petition – ‘Hands off health insurance premiums!’ – aims to raise public awareness about the impact of IPT increases. IPT increases to 12 per cent from June.
The AMII AGM will be held on March 22 at Whittlebury Hall, in Northamptonshire, between 10.30am and 3pm.
The day will see a mix of keynote presentations, masterclasses, debate and discussion on a range of topics,.
Speakers will include Bupa Insurance CEO Alex Perry, who will outline why he believes the industry must work harder to demonstrate the value of health insurance and independent healthcare to the UK economy and the wider health and well-being of the nation.
Other speakers attending the event are Vitality Health head of intermediated sales Athos Rushovich, Prudent Marketing Company founder Steve Mills and Branko Bjelobaba, director of Branko Ltd and AMII’s compliance partner.
AMII chairman Stuart Scullion says: “HM Treasury has viewed IPT as low hanging fruit for generating revenue with three increases in the last two years. We believe a petition with the names and support of consumers, employers and employees using private healthcare insurance and health cash plans will send a clear message: ‘Hands off health insurance premiums!’
“Increases in IPT affect the NHS as much as the private health sector. With the taxman taking an additional £120 in IPT for every £1,000 premium charged it is no wonder some buyers of health insurance and health cash plans are saying ‘enough is enough’, cancelling their PMI and relying on an already overstretched NHS.
“Employees in companies with health insurance or health cash plan benefits will effectively be taxed twice – a tax on the employer paying the premiums and also on the employee under P11d rules. Rather than incentivising employers to offer health benefits to staff, this will discourage this type of support.
“We will launch our petition at the AGM and are aiming to get 100,000 signatures, from across our industry and from users of private medical insurance and health cash plans, to trigger a parliamentary debate – we hope this will demonstrate to the Government the real strength of feeling about IPT rises.”