Aviva Company Health Insurance [Review]

Who Are Aviva?

Aviva is one of the longest standing providers with over 320 years of experience. It is the third biggest provider of group health insurance behind Bupa and Axa.

It offers a broad range of health and wellbeing products and has won many awards. This includes Moneyfacts Private Medical Insurance of the year 2022 award.

Aviva has also received 5 star defaqto ratings for its business healthcare products. And has been endorsed by over 25,000 independent reviews on Trustpilot, giving it a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.

Aviva Company Health Insurance

Aviva offers different company health insurance products for business of different sizes. These can be tailored to suit the specific needs of you the employer and your employees.

Solutions For SMEs
A popular choice for our clients is the Solutions plan which is tailored towards small to medium companies who have up to 249 employees. We’ve reviewed this product for you below.

Optimum Plan For Corporates
Aviva also offer a product known as Optimum. This is designed for companies with 250+ employees and can be tailored to provide a unique set of benefits suited to a businesses needs.

For more information on this product speak to one of our advisers by calling 02074425880 or emailing help@drewberry.co.uk.

Aviva Solutions Policy Overview

The Aviva Solutions policy includes the following features:

• Cancer Pledge
  Aviva’s group health insurance will cover the cancer treatment and palliative care your employees need as recommended by their specialist
• Aviva Digital GP App
  Unlimited, 24 / 7 access to video consultations with an NHS-registered private GP. This handy app also allows employees to order prescribed repeat prescription
• Choice Of Hospital Lists
  Like other providers Aviva gives you the option to choose the hospital network that suits your employees best, either to include or exclude Central London
• Back To Better
  Clinical case management service for any musculoskeletal symptoms such as back, neck, muscle or joint pain. Employees can get access to a clinical case manager who will help ensure they get the right treatment.

What Does Aviva Solutions For Small Businesses Cover?

Aviva’s Solutions group private medical insurance is suitable for businesses with up to 249 employees. The policy allows your employees to get fast access to medical treatment when they need it most.

It can also help you as an employer address issues around absence levels by helping to reduce the time it takes for employees to get a diagnosis and treatment.

Core Cover

Aviva’s company health insurance ‘Solutions’ can be tailored to suit your businesses needs. However as standard it comes with certain core cover, regardless of the other cover options you choose. We’ve outlined this below.

In-Patient

Your employees will receive full cover for any in-patient treatment of acute conditions that require them to stay in hospital for at least one night. This includes hospital charges, specialists’ fees, diagnostic tests, radiotherapy / chemotherapy and treatment for neck, back, muscle or joint pain.

Day-Patient

Like with in-patient cover, your employees will also be fully covered for any treatment of acute conditions which can be done as a day-patient. This means they may need time to recover in a hospital bed, but will be discharged the same day. Treatment that might fall into this category include varicose vein surgery or the remove of cataracts.

Out-Patient

Core cover also includes full cover for treatment of any acute condition which can be treated without an employee having to use a hospital bed. For example diagnostic tests such as CT, MRI or PET scans and pre-admission testing such as bloods and ECG. Employees will also be covered in full for mental health treatment and treatment for back, neck, muscles and joints.

If you need more information on the differences between in-patient and out-patient treatment, we’ve got you covered.

Expert Select

Aviva’s Expert Select (a guided hospital option) comes with your core cover. Through this, you don’t need to pick a hospital list for your employees. When making a claim, staff will be offered the most suitable specialist and facility.

Aviva picks 4-5 national hospitals to choose from, within 25 miles of your location. That said, if you require a niche treatment only available at certain facilities, it could be further than 25 miles.

Cancer Cover

Aviva provides extensive cancer cover and support at every stage of treatment. As part of Solutions core cover employees will be covered in full for treatment such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies.

Employees would also get access to dedicated ongoing care after cancer treatment and access to the latest diagnostics to help determine the best route of treatment. For more details on whats included take a look at the key facts document here.

As an employee benefits consultancy, Drewberry™ has formed strong relationships with some of the UK insurers. This puts us in a position to secure your business extra perks if you choose Aviva.

By going through a Drewberry adviser you can get Dental and optical, mental health cover, and consultations and diagnostics for chronic conditions in your policy for free.

Nadeem Farid
Head of Health & Wellbeing

Aviva Solutions Healthcare Options

You can enhance your policy options, depending on what your business needs. Choose from the below to boost your plan. It’s important to remember that if you do add any of the options your premiums will increase.

Mental Health Upgrade

Aviva’s Mental Health Pathway service offers talking therapy and counselling as standard. But for a higher level of cover, you can add up to either 28 days or 45 days of combined in-patient and day-patient psychiatric care.

What’s good about Aviva’s mental health cover is that employees don’t need to see a GP before making a claim for mental health conditions.

Routine And GP Referred Services

For employees that may suffer from chronic conditions this is a good additional extra to add to your policy. As they may need regular treatments and consultations it will give them peace of mind knowing they can get this through their policy rather than having to wait for an NHS appointment.

The following benefits are subject to a combined limit of £1,000 for each member, each policy year.

• Consultations and diagnostic tests with a specialist for chronic conditions in the policy
• Follow-up consultations after finishing treatment for acute conditions included in policy terms
• GP referred radiology and pathology for any condition except musculoskeletal conditions. CT, MRI and PET scans as outpatient only covered at a diagnostic centre
• GP referred treatment from a physiotherapist, chiropractor, osteopath or acupuncturist for any condition except musculoskeletal conditions. Up to 10 sessions combined total for each member, each condition, each policy year
• GP referred treatment from a chiropodist/podiatrist, or homeopathist for any condition except musculoskeletal conditions. Paid up to the limits in fee schedule
• GP minor surgery, up to £100 per procedure. Procedure must be listed on Aviva’s GP minor surgery list.

Dental & Optical Cover

With this option employees are covered for routine and accidental dental treatment and optical expenses. If you were to add this to your policy it would provide:

• Routine dental treatment, including examinations, tooth cleaning, white fillings, crowns, extractions and surgery. Up to £450 with a £50 excess
• Treatment for accidental dental injury, up to £600
• Up to £250 cover with £50 excess for new prescription contact lenses and glasses.

Hospital Options

As mentioned above Expert Select is Aviva’s core option, however they also offer a hospital list option if you decide this option isn’t for you. There are four lists to choose from:

Key

This is Aviva’s standard list, which gives employees access to around 200 private hospitals in the UK.

Extended

For an extra cost you can opt for the Extended list which gives employees access to more hospitals than Key does, mainly in the Greater London areas

Signature

This option excludes all hospitals in England and Wales so is more suitable for businesses where employees are based in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Because this reduces the amount of hospitals on this list, the cost is much cheaper than other options

Trust

This option is only suitable for businesses that are covering between 1-99 employees. It uses the private patient units of NHS trust and partnership hospitals. Again due to the limit hospital options on this list, its a more cost effective option.

Aviva Company Health Insurance Reduction Options

As well as giving you the option of enhancing your cover, Aviva also offer Reduction Options. This allows you to remove certain elements from its core policy to better suit your team.

Out-Patient Cover

Unlike other providers, Aviva provide full out-patient cover as part of their core offering. Rather than giving you the option to enhance your plan by increasing the level of out-patient cover you can limit it instead for certain treatments to £0, £1,000, £1,500.

Even if you select the £0 out-patient cover option your employees will still be covered for certain treatment this includes:

• CT, MRI and PET scans covered in full if carried out at diagnostic centre
• Surgical procedures, including surgical treatment, guided injections and complex diagnostic procedures
• Pre-admissions tests in full if carried out up to 14 days before in-patient or day-patient treatment
• Physiotherapy for pain in the back, neck, muscles or joints (musculoskeletal conditions)
• Radiotherapy/chemotherapy covered in full.

Although there is a £0 out-patient option available, in order to provide a good level of cover for your employees we would recommend a minimum of £1,000.

Martyn Coates
Senior Employee Benefits Consultant

Selected Benefit Reduction

When reviewing the core cover offered on the Solution plan you may feel that you only need essential cover when it comes to in-patient, out-patient and day-patient costs. Because of this Aviva give you the option of removing the following cover:

• Treatment for complications of pregnancy and childbirth
• Investigations into the causes of fertility
• Surgical procedures on the teeth, performed in a hospital.

Additional Benefits

Regardless of what other cover options you choose, Aviva company health insurance plans include many valuable extra benefits as standard. These will keep your team healthy and happy.

BackToBetter

Aviva’s BackToBetter is the service providing care for musculoskeletal conditions. Employees can skip the NHS waiting list for physiotherapy and get seen quicker through this service. Referrals can be given without needing to see their GP first.

Get Active

Get Active offers discounts to over 3,000 health and fitness clubs around the UK, for no extra cost. You can also get discounts on at-home fitness products and online workouts. This benefit means your team can enjoy getting fit and save money at the same time.

Stress Counselling Helpline

Stress is a common issue for many as they try to juggle all of life’s expectations at once. No matter the cause of stress, it can lead to unwanted physical symptoms and mental health issues.

The stress counselling helpline is a 24-hour service available to your team. They can use the helpline to speak to a counsellor about any issues they may be facing. Everything discussed remains confidential. There are also no limits to the number of times you can access this support.

Aviva Digital GP

Through Aviva’s Digital GP app, employees can get care without seeing their own GP first and bypass long appointment waiting lists. They can get quick access to video consultations and repeat prescriptions. Prescriptions can be ordered through the app, including NHS exemptions, with free delivery.

Aviva Wellbeing

Aviva Wellbeing is an app designed to help your employees live the best lives possible. The app helps them make changes to their physical, mental, and financial health. It can support better sleep, weight loss, and improved fitness, and it’s free to use.

How Much Does Aviva Business Health Insurance Cost?

The cost of business health insurance will vary depending on a number of factors. Some will depend on your business itself. For example the following will affect costs:

• The number of employees needing cover
• The average age of employees
• Location of your company (Central London companies cost more to insure)
• Whether you pay yearly or monthly (annual premiums are often discounted).

Others will be down to the options you choose when building out your policy. We’ve outlined some of the key factors below.

Medical Underwriting Options

You’ll have a choice of underwriting options when it comes to setting up your policy. The type you opt for will have an impact on the cost of your premiums. The options are as follows:

• Full Medical Underwriting
  All risk factors are taken into consideration as each employee completes a medical assessment. Because all risk factors are disclosed, this is the most cost-effective option
• Moratorium
  Unlike full medical underwriting, with this option employees don’t need to disclose their full medical history. Instead Aviva would exclude treatment for any condition suffered in the last 5 years.
• Medical History Disregarded
  This option in simple terms will ignore employees’ pre-existing conditions. A policy would therefor treat all eligible conditions regardless of when it occurred
• Continued Medical Exclusions
  This only applies for companies with existing private medical insurance. Previous medical exclusions will continue to be applied by a new provider.

Excess

The benefits in your policy are subject to an excess, which is payable by each member per policy year. An excess means you can reduce the monthly premiums. A higher excess lowers the price, while a lower excess will increase the price. Aviva’s Solutions excess options are:

• £0
• £50
• £100
• £150
• £200
• £250
• £500.

This is payable once per year and must be affordable for your employees. They won’t need to pay an excess for each claim in a policy year; the excess is per person, not per claim.

Six Week Option

Adding a six week option to your group policy can help you better manage the costs. If treatment is available via the NHS within six weeks of referral, the employee will use the NHS for care. This option reduces the risk of a claim for the insurer, which is why the premiums will cost less.

Example Cost

To give you an idea of how much a company business health insurance policy would cost with Aviva, we’ve provided an example below. We have based this on:

• A company who needs cover for 8 employees with an average age of 40
• That is based in Bath
• Willing to pay a £100 excess
• Wants moratorium underwriting.

Get Expert Help Setting Up Your Aviva Group Health Insurance

When it comes to setting up any company health insurance plan there’s a lot to consider. There are a range of different options which can be tailored to your budget and the needs of your staff.

Finding the right cover for your business will depend on your company’s budget, priorities and wellbeing strategy. With so many options to add, remove, and customise a private healthcare policy, it can be tricky to know exactly what you need.

Our expert employee benefits consultants can talk you through all the details, making sure you get the most suitable cover for your circumstances.

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
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• Claims support when you need it most.