We’re assailed from all sides by choice. We’re persuaded by retailers, educationalists, the media and so on that choice is good. But can this mean needlessly adding complexity to something which should be simple? Can offering a choice deter people from making a decision? If a potential customer knows he or she wants to buy, say, locum insurance, do we deter them by asking if they want this, that or the other from a menu of benefits?
It reminds me of when insurers were falling over themselves to offer the best critical illness insurance. Instead of making sure that the cover they offered was competitively-priced, well-administered and that clients who claimed were compassionately and fairly treated, competitive pressures resulted in insurers publicising ridiculously long lists of the number of increasingly esoteric conditions covered by their policies. This, of course, meant that the next insurer had to publish an even longer list.
When it comes to locum insurance, more choice is coming into the mix. Do you want cover against being summoned for jury service or being suspended? Do you want a payment if you return to work after adoption leave? Although our experience shows that those who buy don’t all choose the same from the menu being offered, what about those who don’t buy?
Maybe these are people who would have been very happy to pay around £40 a month for a policy which would pay out £1,000 a week towards their locum costs if they fell ill or had an accident but who ran away screaming when faced with a vast array of unexpected choices.
These people may very well end up with no insurance, simply because what should have been a simple purchase was over-complicated.
Author: Lynda Cox, September 2012
The opinions presented in this blog are solely those of the author on behalf of Practice Cover Limited and they do not constitute individual advice.
