Corporate Health Cash Plans

A Company Health Cash Plan is a simple and affordable way to help your employees with the cost of everyday healthcare.

Each plan has multiple ‘tiers’ of cover, with each tier offering a higher amount towards each treatment per policy year. You get to choose which tier you want your employees to be on at the outset.

For instance, a first tier might only offer £100 towards dental treatment whereas a higher tier could offer £250. This will be dependent on the insurer and the tier of cover you opt for.

• Dental cover
  This could include money towards anything from a simple checkup all the way to braces, fillings, root canal treatment etc.
• Optical cover
  Money towards checkup fees, glasses / contact lenses etc.
• Prescription cover
  Covers the cost of a set number of NHS prescription fees in a given policy year.
• Therapies cover
  Pain-relieving therapies such as physiotherapy, chiropody, osteopathy and acupuncture.
• Cashback if you need to stay in hospital
  A set amount each day you’re hospitalised up to a fixed number of days per year.
• Additional benefits
  Many Business Health Cash Plans offer additional benefits in the form of support services or complementary benefits. This may include telephone support and advisory services; counselling services; and cover for ‘lifestyle’ treatments (e.g. payments towards massages or teeth whitening).

Pre-Existing Conditions

It is unlikely that a provider will refuse cover if someone to be included on the plan has a pre-existing condition.

Moreover, generally speaking, there are few pre-existing health conditions that would fall under the remit for treatment from a Company Health Cash Plan.

Why Get a Business Cash Health Plan?

Private Medical Insurance was the second-most sought-after employee benefit in 2018 among workers at small- and medium-sized enterprises.

However, it comes with one main obstacle – its cost. This can be too much for many SMEs to implement a full-blown company Health Insurance scheme.

A Health Cash Plan offers a nice intermediate provision between no health cover and full Health Insurance, providing some cover for medical treatments as required without necessarily having to break the bank.

A Corporate Cash Health Plan can be a cost-effective way to help your employees out with everyday health expenses. Healthier employees can prove more productive and a workforce in better health may reduce sickness absence.

Benefits for Employees

Dental Cover

There was a 5% rise in NHS dental charges in England in 2017. According to the British Dental Association, the cost of dental treatments has influenced the type of treatments people choose to have (26%) and even caused some people to delay their dental treatments (19%).

36% of people who did not visit a dentist at all in 2016 said that this was because it was too expensive.

Health Cash Plans can cover routine dental treatment up to a certain limit each year, which means that they have one thing up on Private Health Insurance, where routine dental treatment is usually an optional add-on.

Optical Cover

Like with dental treatment, routine optical cover is usually an optional extra with Private Health Insurance. However, it forms one of the key benefits of a Health Cash Plan.

Despite the NHS recommending that everyone have at least one eye test every 2 years, in 2016 27% of people admitted that they had not had a checkup so frequently.

Amongst these people, almost 1 in 5 said the reason behind their reluctance to have their eyes tested is that they were worried about the cost of new glasses.

With a Health Cash Plan, your employees can claim for checkups and prescriptions, which means that they stand a better chance of preserving their optical health.

Prescription Cover

Some Health Cash Plan providers offer cover for certain types of prescriptions or contribute towards the cost of prescription medication / appliances, which can make a huge difference for people with long-term health issues.

88% living in England with a long-term illness require two or more prescription items per month, and costs for these prescriptions can add up over time.

A study released by the Prescription Charges Coalition in June 2017 revealed that almost 30% of people admit to taking less than the prescribed dose of the medications they pay for.

43% of these people said that this was due to the cost of their prescription and, as a direct result of skipping or reducing the dosage of their medication, 59% of people became more ill.

Half of these people then needed to take time off work as a result of missing out on important medication.

Help with the cost of prescriptions can keep workers well and reduce employee absenteeism / lost productivity through illnesses caused by a lack of prescription medication.

How Much Does a Corporate Health Cash Plan Cost?

Company Health Cash Plans are one of the cheapest insurance products you can purchase for your workers.

In addition, unlike many other insurance products, Group Health Cash Plans tend to have a flat fee. Usually, people within the same age group will cost the same for their level of cover.

Overall, the cost of a Corporate Health Cash Plan will depend on your workers’ age, the amount of people you want to cover with your plan, and the level of cover you want from it. However, roughly speaking, Health Cash Plans cost around £5 a month per person insured.

Remember, Corporate Health Cash Plans count as a Benefit in Kind / P11D, which means that they are a taxable benefit.

Business Health Insurance vs Corporate Health Cash Plan

Quick Tip 

You can run a Group Health Cash Plan alongside Business Health Insurance.

If you do, it can sometimes be used to pay the excess on the company paid Health Insurance scheme. As a higher excess keeps the cost of Group Medical Insurance down, a Group Health Cash Plan that pays the excess for employees can help reduce the price of employer-provided medical insurance.

Making a Claim

Providers will usually cover 50%, 75% or 100% of the cost of certain treatments and services up to a maximum yearly allowance.

Assuming a certain type of treatment or fee is covered by the plan, employees can claim back the money they spent on it by sending the receipts to the provider and filling out a claims form.

Claims can be submitted either online or by post.

On approval of the claim, your employees will be reimbursed for their treatment as a cheque or a payment directly into their bank account.

Initial Excess Period

When you first take out the policy, your workers may have to wait out an excess period before they will be able to make a claim.

The excess period of the policy will depend on your insurer, but they can be as long as 6 months.

Compare Business Health Cash Plans

Bupa

Established over 60 years ago, Bupa is a UK household name. It has two tiers of cover when it comes to Health Cash Plans: Health Expenses and Cash Plan 100.

Health Expenses covers dental, optical and prescription costs, while Cash Plan 100 covers dental, optical, physiotherapy and chiropody/podiatry and also comes with a £12,000 personal accident benefit built in.

Health Shield

Health Shield was founded in 1877 and has won a number of highly prestigious industry awards.These include ‘Best Health Cash Plan Provider’ at the Health Insurance Awards 2013-2018. Cover includes:

• Dental
• Optical
• Chiropody
• Prescriptions
• 21 alternative therapies including allergy testing, cognitive behavioural therapy, counselling fees, hypnotherapy and sports massage
• Health screenings

Simplyhealth

Simplyhealth has been in the healthcare business for more than 145 years.

Its Health Cash Plan includes four tiers of cover and a range of additional support services, including an unlimited 24/7 GP telephone service, access to 24/7 counselling service and online claims support.

Westfield Health

Westfield Health was founded in 1919. Today it has more than 400,000 individual clients and works with 8,000 businesses.

Its benefits include:

• Optical
• Dental
• Therapy treatments
• Chiropody
• Prescription charges
• Health screenings

Expert Business Health Cash Plan Advice

The best way to get a Corporate Health Cash Plan is to shop around and get the information about the different policies and cover options, along with prices, directly from providers.

Our financial advisers are experts in putting together employee benefit schemes that cover your business needs while also being cost-effective.

Why Speak to Us…

We started Drewberry because we were tired of being treated like a number and not getting the service we all deserve 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.

• There is no fee for our service
• We are independent and impartial
  Drewberry isn’t tied to any insurance company, so we can provide completely impartial advice to make sure you get the most appropriate policy based solely on your needs.
• We’ve got bargaining power on our side
  This allows us to negotiate better premiums for you than you going direct yourself.
• You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish
  You will speak to a named expert with a direct telephone and email. No more automated machines and no more being sent from pillar to post – you’ll have someone to speak to who knows you.
• Benefit from our 5-star service
  We pride ourselves on providing a 5-star service, as can be seen from our 2098 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5.
• Gain the protection of regulated advice
  You are protected. Where we provide a regulated advice service we are responsible for the policy we set-up for you. Doing it yourself or going direct to an insurer won’t provide this protection, so you won’t benefit from these securities.
• Claims support when you need it the most
  You have support should you need to make a claim. The most important thing when it comes to insurance is that claims are paid and quickly. We are here to support you during the claims process and make sure it’s as smooth and stress free as possible.

There are a lot of options to choose from if you would like to cover your employees’ medical expenses.

If you need some help please don’t hesitate to pop us a call on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.

Tom Conner
Director at Drewberry