Pension provider Mattioli Woods has launched a private medical insurance (PMI) service, Your Choice.
The service, which is being rolled out to existing Mattioli Woods clients, offers flexibility in the delivery of treatment and level of cover, as well as a cash sum to offset treatment costs.
Ed Watling, head of healthcare benefits at Mattioli Woods' employee benefits division, Kudos Financial Services said: "Unlike traditional health insurance, our Your Choice service allows active management of the decision process and opens up a range of available treatment avenues."
Murray Smith, marketing and sales director at Mattioli Woods said the product would place "control over treatment options firmly in our clients' hands."
Watling added: "If you think about a standard PMI, client has no control over what happens between the insurer and the hospital. It's becoming more the case where the actual insurer is directing the case to the specific provider, whether that be via a network or in some cases, open referral arrangements.
"Under Your Choice, when you're diagnosed with a particular condition that requires particular procedure, you get the cash for that procedure and you can get it done anywhere in the UK or the world, and you arrange the treatment.
"If you have treatment don for free on the NHS, normally under a standard PMI policy you won't get any benefits. You might get £100 an overnight stay. With Your Choice you get 50% of the cash benefit that would normally be paid."
