Select 74 Chairman’s Summary – Season 2005/2006
Our season opened on 22 September where we formally welcomed Mary Sinclair-Porter to the committee as replacement for Ian Harvey. Our first meeting was well attended ( 75Members and guests) which was a fair reflection of the quality speaker who opened our season. Professor Robert Rubens has been a good supporter of Select74 for a number of years, and his standing in his specialised field of oncology makes any presentation he delivers on the subject, a “must attend” occasion. His lecture paid regard to Critical Illness Cover, and how family history and previous cancers could affect the underwriting of these contracts.
Our Christmas meeting held traditionally early on December 1st (perhaps we must consider calling it our Advent Meeting ) was well attended by 80 members and guests, and saw us welcoming Richard Buttle from Swiss Re. Richard has widely lectured from a legal perspective on the thorny subjects of mis-representation and non-disclosure and has established an excellent understanding of the workings of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The subject of Richard’s lecture was titled “Engaging the FOS” which provoked the question of underwriters and/or claims assessors namely, are our processes and philosophies paying regard to the current thinking and practices from the FOS themselves. As always, such a presentation was well received and provoked some lively debate.
Our third meeting of the season was in March, when we were delighted to welcome Dr Jeremy Sayer from Barts Hospital who is also a CMO with Revios. Dr Sayer asked the question “Your Heart, Would you get Standard Rates” ? and presented an interesting insight into some diagnostic screening methods, and how useful they were in his opinion, to the Life and Health Underwriter. 64 Members and guests attended, and were served their dinner on time despite a power-cut at the Queens.
Our final meeting of the year was on 10th May, and saw almost 180 people descend upon the University of Wales in Cardiff to attend the Select74/Assurance Medical Society joint day! The morning session was chaired by Professor Mansel Aylward and looked at four areas on Disability Management, Illness Deception , Forearm Pain and some Current Concepts in Underwriting Disability. The early afternoon session chaired by the AMS saw three outstanding presentations on Lipid Control in Insurance medicine, PSA and Prostatic Diseases and Testing for Microalbuminuria in Insurance Applicants. The final session of the day chaired by Select 74 looked at some current underwriting and claims hot topics surrounding Tele-Underwriting, Claims Management and when to approach the Lawyers and Handling Medical Data. Feedback following the conference was exceptionally positive, and we are looking to organise a similar event in 2008.
Grateful thanks to my fellow committee members, and to you the membership for making my first year as chairman a really enjoyable one.
Jon Parker
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