Western Provident Association
Encyclopedia
WPA, or Western Provident Association, is a not-for-profit private medical insurance firm based in Taunton, Somerset. Its subsidiary, WPA Protocol Plc, administers corporate healthcare trusts.

History

In 1901, a group of workers founded the Reading Work People's Voluntary Hospital Contributory Fund to cover the costs of health care for their members. In 1939, it merged with the Bristol Hospital Fund, and in 1949 it was renamed the Western Provident Association (WPA). In 1992, WPA moved from Bristol to a specially-designed building in Taunton, Somerset.

It ranks as one of the top five competitors in the private medical insurance market. The Financial Ombudsman Service has not adjudicated a complaint against WPA since 1996. WPA had a 93% retention rate for 2008 and approximately 20% of new individual customers came from recommendations by existing policyholders.

Provident Status

As a Provident Association, WPA does not have shareholders, which means the company does not obtain funding from the stockmarket and relies on its own profits for funding. It also means that all profits are reinvested into the business.

Coinsurance

WPA was described by the World Health Organization as leading in the development of coinsurance
Coinsurance
Co-insurance is an insurance-related term that describes a splitting or spreading of risk among multiple parties.-In the United States:In the US insurance market, coinsurance is the joint assumption of risk between the insurer and the insured...

, or "shared responsibility", policies, in which the patient pays a portion of the liability until an agreed limit.

WPA vs. Norwich Union Healthcare, 2000

In 1997, Norwich Union staff falsely claimed over e-mail that WPA was insolvent. WPA sued for defamation. Norwich Union made a High Court apology and paid £450,000 in damages and costs to settle the case. This was a landmark case because it was the first time e-mail was admitted as evidence in a British court.

Cancer Drugs and NHS Top-Up

In 2007, WPA launched a new insurance plan which provided a health "top-up", supplementing NHS treatment. The first policy, called mycancerdrugs, was the first of its kind in the world and funded cancer drugs licensed for use by the European Medicines Agency
European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency is a European agency for the evaluation of medicinal products. From 1995 to 2004, the European Medicines Agency was known as European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products.Roughly parallel to the U.S...

 but not available on the NHS, including Avastin. Because of a shortage of NHS dentists, cash plan policies for dental cover were also successful.

Subsequently, other insurance companies have entered the top-up market and criticism has been levelled at the products from the union Unison which stated that the products would undermine the values of the NHS and risk creating a two-tier system in health care.

WPA Protocol

WPA Protocol administers corporate healthcare trusts. This is an alternative arrangement to private medical insurance whereby larger companies, defined by Protocol as usually those with 400 or more members, can use WPA's infrastructure to administer their own healthcare provisions. Companies provide the funds from a trust, and WPA Protocol provides bespoke literature and telephone lines, as well as staff, infrastructure and economies of scale.

Trusts are not charged insurance premium tax and staff are considered to be more likely to claim responsibly from their own company as opposed to an insurer. Savings are estimated to be 7% compared to being fully insured.

WPA Franchise

WPA is a franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....

 business, meaning self-employed individuals can buy a franchise to sell WPA products in their local area for a commission. Franchisees must complete a training course, as well as ongoing training, and submit a £2,500 fidelity bond
Fidelity bond
A fidelity bond is a form of insurance protection that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees....

, to ensure that customers are treated fairly, although no franchisee has foregone a fidelity bond.

Data Security

In 2010, WPA became the first UK insurer, and one of the first financial services companies in the UK, to be accredited for the British and International Standard for Information Security (BSI ISO/IEC 27001:2005), which is considered the benchmark for protecting sensitive and valuable information.

Environment

The company holds the BSI ISO 14001 certification for environmental management. A 15m wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

 generates electricity for the head office, and the company has a fleet of branded smart cars. It has also increased its use of electronic correspondence, home working, and has reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill by 67%.

Business Continuity

To allow for continuity of business practice in case of emergencies, WPA has an off-side disaster recovery center. It was awarded the BS 25999
BS 25999
BS 25999 is BSI's standard in the field of Business Continuity Management . This standard replaces PAS 56, a Publicly Available Specification, published in 2003 on the same subject.-Structure:...

 for Business Continuity Management, acknowledging the systems in place to continue normal operations even in the event of an emergency.

Quality Management and Customer Care

WPA is certified to the ISO 9001 standard, an accreditation which confirms record-keeping, effective monitoring and customer service, continual improvement, and regular management reviews.

The company was voted best UK insurer for Customer Care at the British Insurance Awards in 2005 and 2009, as well as winning the Insurance Times Award for Health Insurer of the Year 2007.

Innovation

In 2006 and 2007, WPA won the Laing & Buisson National Award for most innovative healthcare provider. This was for the Mycancerdrugs initiative, which was the first product of its kind anywhere in the world.

Employers

The Confederation of British Industry rated WPA as one of the UK's Top 100 Companies, and it was identified as one of the Top 100 Best Employers in the Sunday Times Awards 2004 and 2005.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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