HEALTH BENEFITS
Ensuring your employees benefit from the world-class medical
care when they need it most
The most effective employee benefit plans we see have a health element. It’s often said 'nothing is more important than good health', so employees appreciate the value of some private medical provision.
There is a perception that health coverage is expensive. In reality, though, you can start to incorporate health benefits into a plan
from as little as £4 per month.
Here are some of the options at a glance:
DENTAL INSURANCE
Covering so much more than the annual trip to the dentist, a dental plan can be set up to look after accident and emergency care, root canal work and cancer among many other procedures. We all need to see the dentist from time to time, so offering staff a dental plan is a tangible and valued benefit. More and more employers are turning to Dental Insurance to meet treatment needs.
The NHS currently have three levels of charges for dental treatment for all patients, unless they are exempt. Exemptions currently cover pregnant women and nursing mothers with children up to 12 months old, students in full-time education up to age 19 and discretionary exemption up to aged 23, plus recipients of various benefit payments and allowances.
Although dental cover can be included in Private Medical Insurance schemes, a less costly emerging trend is for Dental Insurance to be offered through flexible benefits.
HEALTH CASH PLANS
WHAT IS A CASH PLAN?
A Health Cash Plan is an insurance policy that reimburses the full or partial cost of an employee’s health treatment. It enables employees to access a range of healthcare treatments and services, with optical, dental, hospital inpatient care and physiotherapy being the most popular treatments that employees claim for. However, Health Cash Plans can also offer counselling support to employees affected by stress, anxiety and depression which providers often offer through their Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).
An employee pays for and then reclaims the cost of their treatment from their cash plan provider following their treatment.
Employers can use Health Cash Plans as an effective way to tackle the causes of staff sickness absence by increasing the chances of a speedy return to work. This in turn can help alleviate the financial strain on the business which can occur when employees are unable to carry out their duties. By reducing sickness absence rates, it can boost staff morale and engagement as well as helping organisations to meet their duty-of-care requirements around staff health & wellbeing.
COST-EFFECTIVE BENEFIT
Starting from as little a £1 per week, Health Cash Plans are a
cost-effective way to support employees’ everyday healthcare needs at a time when low or non-existent wage increases are failing to meet their basic living costs. They are a way of providing a tangible benefit to all.
When offering a Health Cash Plan through a Flexible Benefits Scheme, it is particularly cost effective as the employee can tailor a plan to meet their own specific needs for themselves and their family. This makes it a more meaningful and personalised benefit.
Employees are not required to have a medical before joining a plan, premiums do not increase with age and children under 18 are usually included for free as part of a parent’s cover.
An additional attraction of Health Cash Plans for both employers and employees is the stable pricing. Many providers have substantially enhanced their products and services over the last few years without increasing the cost