How You Can Help Your Employees
Your employees’ health and wellbeing is likely already on your mind. Providing the correct level of support for your employees not only leaves them feeling valued but also helps them stay healthy and happy for longer.
Corporate health insurance is a great place to start helping your employees feel their wellbeing is prioritised.
Issues with your employee’s health can be stressful for them, and not only when experiencing a physical ailment. Sadly mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in society, and ensuring the correct wellbeing resources and support are in place by employers has become crucial.
Corporate health insurance is just one way to support your employees, albeit one that enables you to take a huge step.
It’s also essential to ensure the best systems are in place internally, initiatives such as unlimited holiday are already being adopted by the largest companies which go the extra mile to prioritise wellbeing and employees’ personal lives. Consider these as a supplement to your company health insurance.
What is Corporate Health Insurance?
Sometimes referred to as company health insurance, this type of cover is similar in nature to private medical insurance that someone may take out for themselves or their family. Corporate health insurance differs in that the policy is undertaken by an employer to cover their employees.
As a way to enhance your employees’ health and wellbeing this support is second to none, and is often listed by employees as their most desired benefit from their business. The level of cover itself can vary widely, with modern corporate health insurance able to integrate a number of forms of employee support such as dental, mental healthcare and cancer cover.
There are also intrinsic benefits to a business taking out corporate healthcare on behalf of their employees. As well as a reduction in sick days and overall improved employee health and well being, there are also potential tax breaks for companies. When undertaking corporate health insurance in bulk you can also expect to pay less per employee when more policies are taken out.
Some employers opt to provide this as a free benefit for employees, but you could also offer this as a subsidised benefit to allow anyone to get cover for a lower cost vs. private health insurance.
How We Can Help
At Heath Crawford, we can work with you to identify the best insurance solution for your company health insurance. The correct provider for you goes far further than something as simple as the total premium cost, we look to understand what is vital for your team and align those needs to a business health policy.
Commonly when we help companies access the best healthcare solution we understand the extent of protection required, if your workplace may have any specific requirements and the size of your team.
Using this we can then help you identify the best corporate health insurance policy for your business needs.
Corporate Health Insurance FAQs
What is commonly covered in a policy?
Most providers off similar basic levels of protection within a corporate healthcare plan. In our experience as a general rule, the following are covered:
- Testing and scans (such as MRI and CT)
- Consultations
- Surgery
- Hospital stays, including overnight
- Treatments
- Therapies, such as physiotherapy
What is commonly excluded from a policy?
As above it’s important not to make sweeping statements about insurance cover, as we have access to a wide range of providers that can help. That being said we generally find the following areas are unlikely to be covered within a medical insurance policy:
- Cosmetic surgery and treatments that are not considered medically essential
- Treatment for chronic conditions, such as diabetes
- Childbirth and maternity (some providers may provide for treatment for pregnancy complications however, please let us know if you would like more information on this)
- Fertility treatments, such as IVF
What are the benefits to my company when taking out corporate health insurance?
Aside from the obvious benefit of enhanced wellbeing support for employees, your business will benefit in multiple ways such as:
- Tax benefits, this type of cover is deductible
- Reduction in employee sickness days
- Improved staff retention and happiness
- A superior proposition when recruiting for new staff
How much will my policy cost?
Understandably this is a hard question to answer, the idea with this kind of cover is it’s created bespoke to your needs. The most common factors that will affect the cost of corporate health insurance are:
- The number of employees you wish to cover
- Age of relevant employees
- Location of work
- Depth of cover required
If cost is a concern then you can consider limiting cover, as well as having a higher excess for employees to pay to access protection. You can even opt-in for a 6 week NHS wait limit, meaning inpatient work will only be done privately when not available within 6 weeks via the NHS.
It’s important to balance the protection with your premium cost, the idea behind corporate health insurance is that your staff can use it to its benefit when needed. You may also want to consider a health cash plan as an alternative option, as this may meet your businesses requirements more effectively.
What is a health cash plan and how does it differ compared to a corporate health insurance policy?
A simple way to understand the difference is that a business health insurance policy can protect from the unexpected, with access to a range of private hospitals and treatments when protected. In the simplest terms, employees get private medical insurance for free, or at a subsidised rate, and physical as well as mental health conditions can be covered.
A health cash plan on the other hand is less about wellbeing and more financial support. It’s designed to reimburse employees up to a certain level for common recurring treatments such as dentists and eye tests. Normally these are paid for by the employee and then expensed back to the business after the fact.
What is medical history disregarded?
Larger company health insurance schemes can also gain from ‘medical history disregarded’ (MHD). This is where new employees can have their pre-existing medical conditions covered straight away. Smaller company healthcare schemes are usually unable to cover pre-existing medical conditions unless they are transferring from an existing business or private health insurance policy.
Is cover included for mental health?
As mental health issues become more commonly diagnosed it’s of little surprise that most providers can offer some level of cover within your medical insurance. That being said this is often an additional bolt-on that will need to come with an increase in cost.
The nature and limits to mental healthcare vary, and many providers have different levels of support available so please discuss with us what you think may be required. As well as information hubs and support there is often a pre-defined period of treatment for mental health conditions should your team require it.
Is cover included for cancer treatment?
The level of protection and treatments available to your staff will always reflect back on the policy itself, as there is a great deal of variation in the type of insurance you can get. It’s not a simple question to answer.
Most health insurance providers will offer some form of cancer cover, but if you opt for a 6 week NHS wait limit then it may be unlikely that treatment is carried out privately. Under this type of cover the insurance will only cover if the NHS is unable to treat you within a 6 week period, so if a staff member is diagnosed it’s more likely the NHS will start treatment before this.
Is cover included for health travel insurance?
Some providers will allow you to add in travel insurance for your employees as an added expense, covering health only. If this is something you would like to look into then please advise us when you get in touch so we can ensure your quotes have everything you require from protection.
What other initiatives can be used to enhance employee health and wellbeing?
Modern companies have adopted a range of wellbeing policies that help prioritise keep staff healthy beyond corporate healthcare. It’s worth considering getting external consultation in some cases, but options worth considering in addition to corporate health insurance include:
- Unlimited holiday
- Free healthy work lunches and snacks
- Mental health days
- Days off on Birthdays or special events such as Anniversaries
- Loyalty bonuses for extended service, which could be extra holiday or cash sums
If you’re interested in Company Health Insurance, please fill in the form below with your contact details and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.