Company Private Medical Insurance can apply to different sizes of business. For a large business private medical insurance scheme you would be looking to have a minimum of 50 people that you wanted to provide cover for. Small business company private medical insurance cover is often for named individuals and can include their partners and children. A private medical insurance policy can also be taken out by a self employed individual and can also be extended to include their partner and children. A company private medical insurance policy can be set up to offer the individuals different types of cover. This includes when you are treated, where you are treated, and how you are treated. Some private medical insurance policies will limit the choice of specific hospitals. Other benefits have started to be included in certain private medical insurance policies, including discounts at gyms and health clubs, fitness and health advice, telephone help-lines that allow you to speak to doctors and nurses, health screening and the inclusion of preventative medicine.

Are there many types of Company Private Medical Insurance schemes?

Yes there are many categories that apply to private medical insurance schemes including:

• Limited cover plans – these allow you to limit the number of medical conditions that are covered by the private medical insurance plan, which reduces the cost of the policy.
• Packaged plans – these are fixed private medical insurance plans that have a limited choice of cover available (almost like an “off the shelf” plan).
• Cover Choices plans – these are private medical insurance plans that allow you to build the policy to your specifications from a wide range of different options.
• Special cover plans – these company private medical insurance schemes have different ideas and innovations to cover selected risks – for example it could be a hospital treatment plan.
• Shared risk plans – with a shared risk private medical insurance scheme you can reduce the premium you have to pay by sharing the cost risks with the insurance company (like an excess on a normal insurance policy).

I understand the self employed cover as this is just one person and their family – can you explain more about the small business / large business plans?

A summary of a small to medium size company private medical insurance scheme is below:

• The policy is taken out in the name of the company.
• As mentioned earlier, the cover provides for individuals within the company (and their spouses and children if applicable / required).
• The cover can be by a “job description”, for example Managing Director or Sales Manager, although this is not common.
• The premiums are calculated based on the individuals who are to be covered under the company private medical insurance policy.
• Unlike some employee benefit schemes, cover can be for named individuals only. Or it could be just for a certain set of employees, for example, directors.
• It is possible to have differing levels of cover for different individuals (or individual categories), although choosing this option can reduce the number of providers available to you.
• Some company private medical insurance policies have ancillary benefits such as discounted health club / gym membership, free medicals, eye tests and health screening.

A summary of a large business or corporate company private medical insurance scheme is below:

• As mentioned earlier this type of cover is for companies wanting to cover more than 50 people under one private medical insurance policy.
• There can be tax implications for both the company and the individual employees.
• It is advisable to ensure that when you are looking to arrange this type of cover you consider all the other employee benefits at the same time. This ensures we do not duplicate existing cover you may have. It also ensures that you do not have any gaps in cover in an area that you had not considered before.

Why should we come to you?

For company private medical insurance, it is vital that you get the cover you require. By talking to a professional adviser we are able to ensure the policy you want is available and is available at the price you are willing to pay. Some people just jump onto the internet, do a few searches and then take out the cheapest policy. No advice has taken place and essentially if a claim arises that is subsequently declined due to them missing any “small print” in the contract, they are left without cover at a time they most desperately need it. Also for large / corporate private medical insurance schemes most providers will not deal directly with the public as they prefer to have an intermediary giving the client advice on the best private medical insurance policy for their company.

I’m still not sure what it actually covers?

The easiest way to explain what is covered in more detail is to have a look at a packaged Company Private Medical Insurance scheme and a Choices company private medical insurance scheme. Under a packaged plan and a Choices plan, you could expect to see cover including:
Medical costs incurred as an in-patient, out-patient or day patient. The types of cost you could incur might include:

• Hospital charges
• Accommodation costs
• Consultants or specialists fees (or both)
• Radiotherapy or Chemotherapy costs
• Physiotherapy costs
• Diagnostic tests to pinpoint a problem
• Scans
• Psychiatric treatment

Additional benefits might also include:

• A private ambulance
• Nursing care needed at home
• Recuperation care
• Alternative medicines or complementary therapies
• Parent accommodation (in the case of a child)
• Chiropody
• Dental surgery
• Consultations and tests relating to pregnancy
• GP fees or GP minor surgery
• Help-lines or other advice
• Health Screening
• Discounts at health clubs / gyms
• No claims discounts applied to your premium

Some policies will allow unlimited claims, other policies will restrict you to a certain amount that cannot be exceeded within one year, or it may limit the fees and procedure costs by day, week or month. There may also be limitations to the number of hospitals available to the employees who are covered.
The main difference between the packaged company private medical insurance plan and the choices private medical insurance plan is that under a packaged scheme you would get a plan cover some(but not all) of the above, without the ability to add additional benefits. The choices private medical insurance plan would allow you to pick and choose the benefits you wanted / felt were the most important to you and your employees.

How do I go about arranging cover?

Simply complete the enquiry form below and one of our advisers will contact you to discuss your requirements. Alternatively you can contact us on 01274 516900.