Health Insurance
Are you the owner of a business? You might be interested to learn that on average, in the UK 141.4 million days of work are lost each year due to sickness absence, and therefore helping to maintain the health and wellbeing of your workforce is really important.
Sickness absence can be very costly for businesses, and a private health insurance policy can protect the health and wellbeing of your most important asset.
Read on to find out how Woodfield & Riley could help you find an employee health insurance policy that best meets your needs.
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What is health insurance?
Employee health insurance is also known as business medical insurance or company health insurance, and can provide your staff with private medical cover in the event that they are unwell. If you want to minimise the impact that employee sickness can have on your business’ operations and reduce the amount of time off that employees need as a result of illness, you should consider taking out private healthcare for your workforce.
Health insurance will help employees to cover the cost of private medical treatment, or subsidise the cost of routine medical and dental expenses. The type and amount of health insurance for staff cover that you require depends on several things. For example, the size of your business, the kind of work that you do and the number of employees that you have.
Investing in employee health insurance reinforces to your employees that you care about their health and well being, which in turn can help to build a happy and loyal workforce.
What health insurance covers
An employee health insurance policy can help to provide cover for the following:
- Access to private medical facilities: These will often include a private room with an en-suite bathroom, TV and WiFi.
- Faster appointments: Often your employees will get faster appointments which will lead to quicker diagnosis and treatment and less disruption for your business.
- Outpatient cover (including consultations, x-rays and diagnostics).
- CT, MRI and PET scans as an outpatient: Provides a greater choice and flexibility of diagnostic options.
- Medication: Covers the cost of medicines that your employee is prescribed, ensuring that they can keep up to date with their treatment plan more easily.
- Dental treatments (including dental examinations, x-rays, scale and polish).
- Prescription delivery.
- Physiotherapy: NHS waiting lists for physiotherapy can mean that your employee may not receive treatment for several weeks, and a private medical policy can provide much more flexibility.
- Chiropractic treatments.
- Cancer cover: Provides flexibility and choice at a time when your employee needs it most.
- Online medical consultations: Provides more flexibility with appointment times which will lead to less disruption for your business.
- Hospital treatment: Provides more choice in regards to where you’re treated.
- Health checks (including diabetes checks): Ensures your employee is fully aware of any changes to their health or wellbeing.
- Flu vaccinations
- Mental health (including counselling sessions).
Types of health insurance policies
There are two main types of employer health insurance policies. These are:
- Private medical insurance: This type of policy will cover the cost of privately diagnosing and treating an employee’s acute health conditions, rather than needing to rely on the NHS. The policy will normally only cover conditions that are not pre-existing, and can be tailored to include a greater range of benefits, depending on your needs.
- Cash Plans:This type of policy allows an employee to receive cash payments to subsidise the cost of ongoing and routine medical and dental expenses, such as dental check-ups, prescriptions and eye tests. A healthcare cash plan can be employee or employer funded, and the policy can be tailored to include a greater range of benefits, depending on your needs.
To find out which type of corporate health insurance policy will best meet your needs, contact Woodfield & Riley today.
What health insurance do I need?
Employee sickness absence can be very disruptive for businesses. Employee health insurance helps to support the health and well being of your workforce and enables staff to return to work more quickly by providing them with private medical care, rather than having to rely on the NHS.
If an employee calls in sick, their absence is going to equate to a financial loss for your business, and if their sickness is long-term then you may need to recruit a temporary replacement. In the event of this happening, would your business be able to afford to foot the bill? Having employee health insurance in place can help to ensure that your staff have the proper care that they need and hopefully enable them to have a speedier recovery time.
There are several factors that you need to consider when it comes to thinking about the health insurance policies that your business needs. These include:
- The size of your business.
- The industry you operate in.
- The way you operate.
- The number of employees that you have.
The cost of health insurance
The premium that you will pay for your health insurance policy will depend on the level of cover that you need. You may choose to take out a basic policy, or one that is more comprehensive and covers more conditions and treatments. In addition, you may choose to pay for the whole of an employee’s premium, or you may require the employee to also make a contribution towards it.
At Woodfield & Riley we understand how important cost is to your business, and will take the time to understand the specific needs of your business and recommend the amount of health insurance cover that is best suited to you.
What else do I need to know about health insurance?
With every employee health insurance policy there will be some exclusions. These may include:
- Chronic illnesses.
- Pre-existing conditions.
- Menopause.
- Allergies.
- Gender reassignment.
- Ageing.
- Cosmetic surgery.
- Weight loss treatment.
- Pregnancy and childbirth.
- Issues with speech, sight and hearing.
It is also important to note that if you choose to provide employee health insurance, both you and your employee will need to pay tax on it.
In addition, you may also choose to add critical illness cover to your employee health insurance policy, which can help to treat your staff in the event of major health related events such as a heart attack, being diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition or requiring an organ transplant.
It is also important to be aware that with company health insurance, some annual limits will apply.
How can I get health insurance?
NHS waiting times can mean that it could take longer for an employee to be treated, whereas a private health insurance policy for employees will ensure that they are seen by a medical professional much quicker.
Established in 1997, Woodfield & Riley are the health insurance experts, and will work with you to provide the best level of protection for your employees. To find out more, contact our healthcare team by calling: 0800 0000 000.