Group Private Medical Insurance

Your employees are a valuable asset – and it pays to take care of the people who take care of your business. Research shows that 168 million working days are lost to sickness absence in a single year1 at a cost to British business of over £12 billion.

Once you are sick, having to rely upon the NHS is often a hit and miss experience. Private Medical Services are an option but the costs associated with the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions can be extremely high.

However, Private Medical Insurance can be provided cost-effectively by an employer to protect its staff, with multiple benefits. In addition to being among the highest of perceived benefits for employees, it is also tax-efficient, given that only insurance premiums—rather than treatment costs—are taxable as a benefit in kind.

Lansdown Place has access with all of the major UK and international medical insurers, and our advice is therefore based on a comprehensive and impartial market review. There is considerable flexibility in benefit levels and cost controls, and private medical insurance is therefore selected on the basis of a detailed needs analysis.

What are the benefits?

It can help your company with

• Reducing the cost of sickness absence with your company
• Show you genuinely care about the well being of your staff
• Increase the level of employees morale and performance
• Reduce the liability and risk of litigation
• Help retain existing staff along with attracting new staff
• Get staff back to work quicker because they will not be put on a NHS waiting list

What cover does private medical insurance provide?

PMI policies offer a range of benefits and do differ depending on the Insurer. These are usually divided into “budget”, “standard” and “comprehensive”. The sort of things that might be covered by PMI are:

• Accommodation and nursing in a private bed, hospital or registered nursing home while you receive treatment for illness or injury
• Home nursing benefits, payable when the services of a qualified nurse are required for full-time nursing at home
• Surgeons’ and anesthetists’ fees for an operation, including after care
• Specialist physicians’ fees for treatment in a hospital or registered nursing home
• Courses of radiotherapy or chemotherapy
• Specialists’ fees for consultations, pathology and radiology investigations and physiotherapy, received on an in-patient or out-patient basis
• Hospital fees for the use of its operating theatre, surgical dressings and drugs prescribed while an in-patient

Are there any medical conditions specifically excluded?

Yes. In general, most Private Medical Insurance plans do not cover the following:
Normal pregnancy, drug abuse, infertility, GP fees, any medical prescriptions, normal dentistry, alcohol abuse, self inflicted injuries, AIDS, chronic long term illness such as diabetes or asthma, cosmetic surgery.

Medical conditions suffered prior to joining a new plan are known as pre-existing conditions. All plans for individuals and their families exclude pre-existing conditions either permanently, or for a given period of time.

If you wish to speak to an employee benefit specialist or would like further information please contact 0845 30 50 222

1 CBI Absence and Labour Turnover report 2005