Health insurance for employees
12th June 2023 Health Insurance

Do I have the right health insurance for my employees?

As a business owner, how you look after your staff is a huge part of how you attract and retain your key employees, and arranging health insurance for them is one of the best ways to fulfil your duty of care when it comes to your employees’ health and wellbeing.

What types of health insurance for employees is available in the UK?

There are many different types of health insurance policy available to businesses. The cost will vary depending on the type of policy you decide to buy.

When you first start looking at the health and wellness of your employees, think about the type of protection you want to give them:

  • Do you want your team to have access to private treatment for serious medical conditions?
  • Are mental health, counselling and stress helplines key elements?
  • Are you looking for a policy that pays for dentistry?
  • What about everyday healthcare costs such as optical and physiotherapy treatment?
  • Would a low-cost policy that offers cover for non-urgent surgery be suitable?

The health insurance market in the UK is vast. The policy you choose will dictate the budget you need to allow.

Where can I buy health insurance for employees?

Company private medical insurance can be bought in a number of ways. You can purchase it online, directly via an insurer, through your financial adviser or from a specialist health insurance broker. It will not cost you any more money to use a broker, so why not make valuable use of someone who has up-to-date knowledge of the market? It would be unusual for a broker to charge you a fee; brokers are usually paid a commission by the insurer at the start and renewal of your policy. For complete transparency, a broker will confirm the value of the commission they earn, upon request.

What are the different policies available for business health insurance?

Choosing health insurance for your employees is no easy task. Let’s look a little more closely at what options are available:

  • Private Medical Insurance (sometimes referred to as PMI or health insurance)

This is a modular product, in most cases, and you can therefore tailor your cover to suit your specific needs. Even a budget policy will cover your team for high-cost in-patient and day-patient hospital treatment. You can incorporate categories of membership to mirror your company structure. PMI would, in most cases, be one of the more expensive options for health insurance for employees.

  • Dental Insurance

NHS dentistry is harder to access because of the lack of NHS dentists, and dental insurance is therefore becoming more popular. The cost of private dental treatment can be expensive and employees value help in paying for routine and major dental treatment. You can choose from different cover levels, enabling you to manage your healthcare budget easily.

  • Cash Plans

A cash plan will give your employees cash back on everyday healthcare cost such as dentistry. Likewise, they will have access to 24/7 helplines and additional rewards and perks from associated partner companies. Not only does it offer healthcare cash back, but you also have the option of covering the excess on your PMI, too. You can therefore save money on your health insurance and your employees, too, will not be out of pocket.

Unique to the health insurance market, Benenden Healthcare for Business offers you an enormous range of benefits for a very small price tag. Firstly, you should know this is not an “insurance” policy. It does, however, offer excellent benefits at a fraction of the cost of traditional PMI. The Benenden policy does not provide cover for high-cost treatments for conditions such as heart disease and cancer treatment.

  • Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP)

An EAP is a really low cost/great value policy, offering counselling/helplines and so much more. If you have a restricted budget, a simple EAP can help you to fulfil your duty of care to your staff without draining your bank account.

  • Excess and Shortfall Insurance

Excess and shortfall insurance is a policy that will cover excess and shortfalls up to a specified amount for your private medical insurance. As a business, you will get a reduction in premium if you add an excess to the policy. Your employees would be eligible to pay the excess if a claim is made. A shortfall occurs when a claim is made and the consultant or hospital charges over the agreed fee guidelines. A policy of this type has no “benefits” as such. It does, however, help to ensure that your employees can claim back any excess or shortfall paid.

Will employees have to pay tax as a benefit in kind?

Yes, health insurance for employees does class as a benefit in kind. As an employer, you will need to report any employee benefits on the P11d form to HMRC and your employees will need to pay the appropriate level of tax.

Why should you buy health insurance for your employees?

Keeping your staff fit and healthy is a great way to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism. Health insurance can help your employees access rapid treatment and diagnosis. The quicker they are treated, the sooner, hopefully, they are back in the workplace and fit to work. Mental and physical health are equally important considerations: untreated mental health conditions can rapidly manifest and become far more serious. As a business owner, it can be difficult to monitor the wellbeing of your staff. With hybrid working becoming “normal”, you may not even see your team on a daily basis. How would you know if someone was struggling or unwell?

Even a basic EAP will give your employees access to counselling and telephone helplines. The option to reach out and speak to a medical professional could make a massive difference.

Great employee benefits are also a way to attract and retain key employees. In addition, you can look at company protection policies such as:

Without a doubt, looking after your existing staff is a brilliant way to keep your business on track for the future. Healthy, happy staff who feel valued and cared for are less likely to look for opportunities outside your company.

If you would like more information about health insurance for your employees, speak to our team today. We have years of experience in the health and wellbeing market and would be more than happy to help you find the right policy, first time.

You can contact us on 01245 929129 or by email lianne@smphealthcare.com

We look forward to working with you in the future.