Freedom’s GDPR preparations
Not surprisingly, there has been an increasing level of interest in the way health insurance providers are approaching implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Bill with many brokers seeking reassurance that their clients’ data is continuing to be protected to the required high standard they have come to expect.
Secure and confidential data
Freedom Healthnet Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, registration number 312282, and is therefore required to meet the principles of the FCA Handbook in relation to having appropriate systems and controls in place.
In addition, Freedom Healthnet Limited is also registered as a data controller on the Data Protection Register held by the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number Z8298765. This means Freedom is required to keep all personal data it receives secure and confidential and to only use it if we have a legal basis to do so.
In general terms, this means we will only use personal data to administer your client’s health insurance policy or to meet our legal, regulatory and statutory reporting obligations.
Ensuring compliance
We already have processes in place for ensuring we satisfy our legal obligations under the current Data Protection Act 1998 and we have been, and continue to be, hard at work revising and updating these to ensure we meet the enhanced requirements of the GDPR and Data Protection Bill. This includes:
– Ensuring all staff are fully trained on their data protection obligations.
– Knowing where our data comes from and who it is shared with.
– Revising and updating our privacy policy.
– Ensuring we have adequate processes in place to protect the data rights of everyone who has, or has had, insurance cover through us.
– Anonymising policy and claim records on cancelled policies after a reasonable period of time has elapsed.
We do not sell your client’s data to any third parties for commercial purposes and we only share data where it is necessary for us to do so to administer the health insurance cover effectively or where we are required to do so by law. Non-personal data may be used for analytical purposes.
Data protection questionnaires
We are unable to complete the individual data protection questionnaires that some brokers have asked us to fill in, but please be assured that we continue to monitor developments around the practical implementation of GDPR. We will also be adjusting and updating our processes accordingly so you can always be confident that your clients’ data is secure and protected from unauthorised or inappropriate use.
We will keep you updated but in the meantime if you have any specific questions regarding our GDPR preparations, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Robert Smith
Sales Director
Freedom Health Insurance
