Private medical insurers are launching “budget” policies or are offering cash benefits worth thousands of pounds to private patients who use the National Health Service.
The measures come as private medical insurance (PMI) providers attempt to win over customers who have chosen not to buy policies because of the economic downturn and improvements in the NHS.
Standard Life this week launched a personal health insurance policy that gives members more control over premiums than most policies, according to brokers.
Rather than simply choosing from either budget, mid-range or comprehensive cover, the Standard Life personal healthcare plan allows members to “pick and mix” their benefits to suit their budgets and health needs.
“These plans give individuals the platform to mould their policy to more or less what they want,” said Mike Izzard, chairman of the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries.
“No two people are the same, so why should they buy the same type of cover?”
Customers build from a core plan that provides inpatient and daypatient treatment, hospital charges, consultants’ fees, diagnostic and monitoring tests, in and outpatient cover for cancer and major outpatient scans.
The core plan can be enhanced with optional benefits such as dental, maternity or psychiatric cover.
Individuals can also tailor their underwriting to suit their budgets – for example, including a moratorium, or claims-free period.
A 40-year-old male could pay premiums of £45 to £75 a month, depending on the level of benefits they chose (see table below).
Other insurers are reworking existing policies to offer more affordable premiums. Tesco Personal Finance recently relaunched its health insurance to offer three levels of benefits.
All customers are offered a base level of “Operations and Procedures” cover which pays for surgical costs, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, scans and a private room. Customers can then choose another “level”, including “Consultation and Tests” and/or “Additional therapies”, such as acupuncture or physiotherapy.
Tesco cover starts at about £21 a month for a 35-year-old living outside London with a £100 excess who is willing to seek NHS treatment in the first six weeks.
Other insurers offer cash for having treatment on the NHS. AIG’s HealthChoice pays the policyholder the cash equivalent of what an operation costs in a BMI Healthcare hospital. AIG quotes a payment of £7,500 for a knee replacement in an NHS hospital. “You can choose to spend the money any way you see fit,” said AIG, which also offers cash benefits for operations in other private hospitals.
