Group Private Medical Insurance

What are the Benefits of Group Health Insurance?

For Employers

• Reduced sickness absence
• Gets employees treatment faster and therefore back to work sooner
• It’s a valued employee benefit and can therefore improve employee retention and recruitment
• Premiums are usually an allowable business expense against corporation tax (although there are other tax rules – see below)
• If employers pay for family members via salary sacrifice, it may reduce your National Insurance bill.

For Employees

• Fast access to private medical care that your employer pays for
• Can cut time spent off sick on reduced sick pay
• Potentially offers cover for therapies, e.g. physiotherapy. This can help with back pain office workers often suffer with
• Employers may choose to allow you to add family members to the scheme, offering them the same cover
• Potential cover for pre-existing conditions if your group scheme is large enough.

How Much Does Group Private Health Insurance Cost?

There are five main factors that decide the cost of a policy:

• The size of the company
• The age of each employee
• Your location
• Your underwriting
• The level of cover you choose.

Below we’ve provided examples of the average cost of cover per employee for variously-sized businesses. To do so, we’ve made the following assumptions:

• There is a £1,000 outpatient cap
• There’s a £100 excess on the policy
• The client has chosen a mid-tier hospital list.

These premiums are for illustration only. The cost per employee depends on a wide array of factors. If you want to compare quotes from the top UK insurers call us on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.

Policy Options Which Impact The Cost Of Group Medical Insurance

There are a number of options you can choose which will impact the level of cover and the overall cost of a Group Private Medical Insurance scheme.

• Excess
  An excess means each member pays a set amount per year or per claim towards treatment. This reduces the cost of a claim for an insurer and therefore cuts premiums.
• Psychiatric cover
  Psychiatric care is one of the most sought-after options but also among the most expensive. This reflects how difficult many mental health problems are to treat. However, given that each year the UK loses £70 billion due to mental health issues, it’s a great additional benefit.
• Dental and optical cover
  While policies typically cover surgical procedures such as cataract removal or wisdom tooth extraction, this isn’t the case for routine dental and optical care, e.g. eye tests or dental checkups. Adding this enables employees to see an optician or dentist under the policy.
• Cover for family members
  Many employers allow employees to add immediate family to the policy. This can be at the cost of the employee or the employer.
• Additional hospitals
  Most insurers have multiple ‘tiers’ of facilities. If you’re happy to not pay the extra premium for access to the top facilities in the country, usually those in Central London, it can reduce the cost of cover.
• 6 week NHS wait option
  Your policy will only pay for inpatient treatment if the NHS waiting list for that particular procedure exceeds 6 weeks. (Due to the current length of NHS waiting times, some insurers such as AXA aren’t offering this option. The market changes regularly, so if you’re unsure, give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk to find out your options.)

Your Medical Underwriting Options

Your underwriting impacts premiums and what your policy covers staff for. There are three main options, plus a fourth for switching insurers.

Full Medical Underwriting (FMU)

Full medical underwriting sees employees disclose their medical history. The insurer will likely exclude pre-existing conditions, but employees will know exactly which exclusions apply from the start.

This option is usually the cheapest because it excludes pre-existing conditions upfront. However, as employees must declare all medical history, there’s usually lots of paperwork.

Moratorium Underwriting

Moratorium underwriting requires much less initial information. It sees a condition excluded if, at the start of the policy, the employee has suffered from it in the past 5 years.

Employees don’t need to make any medical disclosures upfront. Instead, at claims stage the insurer checks their medical history to make sure that condition hasn’t occurred during a period where it would be disqualified.

Moratorium underwriting is one of the most commonly chosen options.

It allows for pre-existing conditions to be covered after employees have spent two consecutive years on the policy without receiving any advice, medication or treatment for that condition.

Nadeem Farid
Head of Employee Benefits

Medical history disregarded (MHD)

MHD underwriting is the best underwriting available. It ignores any pre-existing conditions, no matter when your employees have suffered from them. As the name suggests, your employees’ previous medical history is totally disregarded and they’re able to claim for any eligible condition under the policy’s terms.

It’s the most expensive type of medical underwriting because it’s so all-encompassing. Medical history disregarded underwriting is only available to a large company, usually starting with at least 20-25 people.

How is It Taxed?

Employers usually pay for employees’ Private Medical Insurance from pre-tax earnings. HMRC typically treats premiums as a business expense.

For staff, employer Medical Insurance is a P11D taxable benefit in kind, so they pay additional tax on this cover.

As an employer, tax rules require you to fill out a P11D form declaring that you’ve provided employees with a benefit in kind. You’ll also usually need to pay employer’s National Insurance on the premiums as well.

Who Are The Best UK Group Health Insurance Providers?

There are four main providers in the market. Each offers very different policies and pricing structures:

• Aviva
• AXA
• Bupa
• Vitality

In addition to the core cover all of the leading providers now provide a video GP service. Other benefits also include counselling helplines, wellbeing services and high street discounts.

Being an independent insurance broker we work with all the leading insurers in the UK. Given our scale and expertise we are in a great position to negotiate the best deal for your company.

Do You Require International Cover?

If you are looking at health insurance to cover staff abroad there are other international providers including Cigna, Aetna and Allianz which we would consider when comparing quotes and providing recommendations.

Where Does It Fit With an Employee Benefits Package?

Firstly, it’s one of the most popular employee benefits and therefore goes a long way towards promoting goodwill among your employees.

Secondly, it forms a valuable cornerstone to any employee benefits package. Other benefits you might look at include:

• Group Life Insurance
  Pays a cash lump sum to an employee’s family if they pass away while working for your company.
• Group Income Protection
  Works with your company’s sick pay policy to offer cover in the form of a continuation of a worker’s monthly income if they are ill or injured. Some insurers provide a discount if you provide your team with both income protection and medical insurance.
• Group Critical Illness Cover
  Offers your employees a lump sum if they’re diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, heart attack or stroke.

Compare Group Health Insurance Quotes & Get Expert Advice

Not everyone has the time or expertise to do the heavy lifting to implement this type of wellbeing scheme. Out team of expert advisers have the knowledge and whole-of-market access to quote you the best premiums from the leading UK insurers.

Letting us do the heavy lifting means you can focus on what you’re best at: Delivering your own proposition.

Why Speak to Us?

We started Drewberry™ because we were tired of being treated like a number.

We all deserve a first class service when it comes to things as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to talk to us.

• We are award winning 🏆 independent insurance advisers who work with all the leading UK insurers
• You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish
• We are very proud of the 3900 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5
• We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You can find us on the financial services register here 🧐
• Claims support when you need it most.

If you need help setting up group private medical insurance give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.