No one denies we have a wonderful National Health Service, but most people would accept that it is under strain and in some cases waiting lists can be very long and treatments limited. Private Medical Insurance enables you to skip the waiting lists, benefit from private hospital rooms, and often receive drugs and treatments which are unavailable on the NHS.
Group PMI is an attractive employee benefit, keeping you, your staff, business and profits healthy; an affordable private health solution providing a valued benefit for employee and employer alike.
Benefits of Group PMI are:
There are so many variations to Private Medical Insurance that it can be very confusing.
With many PMI providers offering online solutions it may be tempting to buy online – but the risk is that you end up with too little, too much or the wrong thing entirely.
Getting advice is the best way to make sure you’re getting the right solution for you. At Alan Boswell Group we have expert Health Consultants on-hand to help with your Group Healthcare questions.
Karen has been excellent, exceptional, and exceeded her bounds of job.
At some point, as your business grows you will inevitably make the decision to add in some employee benefits. You’ll do some competitor analysis and note that other companies are offering flexible-working or have an enhanced bonus scheme. You may review your pension contributions or offer some life insurance solutions.
One of the key benefits you may consider is Private Medical Insurance.
Offering PMI adds values that are attractive to both employees and employer. Not only do your staff benefit from reduced waiting times, private rooms, access to treatments unavailable on the NHS, faster diagnosis, choosing their surgeon or hospital, and comprehensive access to therapies, but your company benefits from staff returning to work quicker, improved company welfare and you’re likely to be considered a better place to work.
There are many options when choosing the right PMI for you and your employees, including:
At Alan Boswell Group we have various solutions designed to fit your requirements and budget. By taking the time to get to know you and your business we can help you decide if one of our packaged solutions meets your needs or whether a fully bespoke solution is best.
Check out our guide to the ‘Top 10 things to know about Group PMI’
Business Expense
It is important to remember that group PMI is a benefit-in-kind and will usually be offset as a business expense.
We have a wide choice of Group PMI solutions starting at just £7 per month per employee:
No excess
No excess
£150 excess on diagnosis / treatment
No excess
Alternatively, we can create a bespoke solution based on your exact needs, requirements, and budget. Fully understanding your business, we will be able to put together the right plan for you, your directors, staff, and family.
Health Trusts are a flexible alternative suited to larger organisations paying more than £250,000 for annual PMI cover.
Health Cash Plans are one of the UK’s fastest growing employee benefits schemes, providing cashback for a range of everyday healthcare costs. Schemes can be tailored for organisations of five or more people.
Dental Insurance is becoming an increasingly popular employee benefit. It is available for companies of two or more employees.
Apart from the ones already mentioned (reduced waiting times, private rooms, and treatments unavailable on the NHS) the key benefits are the ability to get specialist referrals, meaning you can ask your GP to refer you to an expert to get a second opinion or specialist help, getting the scans you want, when you want, choosing your surgeon or hospital, and comprehensive access to therapies.
Private Medical Insurance providers are also embracing technology. As an example, some schemes include remote access to a GP, meaning you can actually see a GP via a video link on your phone 24-7, choose your GP by gender and language and even order repeat prescriptions, without the usual three week wait to get an appointment at your GP surgery.
Of course the primary benefit is that having access to specialist treatment from an expert at a location of your choosing with a private room can help aid the recovery process.
Businesses have also found that it is an essential tool in the recruitment and retention of staff as well as helping employees return to work sooner following mental health illness, or injury.
It depends on the exact policy you take out. Usually PMI will exclude any pre-existing conditions and will also have general exclusions such as alcohol and/or drug abuse. There are some exceptions to this rule, however.
In some cases, for groups with a minimum of ten members, you can have your medical history disregarded, although this is not common. More likely for inclusion is cases when there has been no reoccurrence of the condition for a few years. For example, if you’ve had problems with your back in the past – but had no issues for two years you may find this is covered by your insurer.
Therapies, including physiotherapy, chiropody, and acupuncture to name a few, are usually core benefits of PMI. Dental and optical cover are generally not included as standard but policies can be tailored to include such benefits to best suit your needs.
Absolutely not! Long gone are the days when you need to have a 50-point check-up before you can get healthcare. There are a couple of ways in which the insurer will work with you to get you covered. Completing a detailed application form (known as ‘full medical underwriting’) will outline your exclusions at inception and will stand for the life of the policy or through a ‘moratorium’. A moratorium excludes all pre-existing conditions from the last five years for a set period, (usually two years) but can then include them after that.
That’s a difficult question to answer as there are many factors that are taken into account when preparing a quote such as age, address, and the cover options you choose. But the average cost, in the UK, is less than £4 a day. Less than the price of a coffee and cake!
It’s important to get to know the claims process. You can’t just assume you’re covered. When you purchase PMI you will receive your policy certificate outlining your cover and any limitations set out as well as a guide on how to make a claim – but the simplest thing to remember is to speak to a GP first and call the appropriate claims helpline for authorisation before you receive any treatment.
Healthcare Adviser
Louise grew up in the city of Norwich and chose to go to University in the beautiful city of York gaining a degree in English…
Head of Healthcare
Alex Mhandu heads up the Healthcare department and joined Alan Boswell Group in 2012 from NFU Mutual. He has worked in financial services for over…
Insurance Assistant
Clare previously worked for a Reinsurance company within the claims department before joining Alan Boswell Group in 2012. Clare is based within the Private Medical…
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