Anne has recently been made redundant. As part of her employment package with her former employers, she was enrolled on a corporate PMI scheme. She wishes to carry on with this policy but does not believe that she can continue on the same terms as an individual. She has suffered from stress in the past which has caused her to have high blood pressure, for which she is on medication. Anne understands that restrictions would be in place but is willing to part-pay for her medical treatment. What, therefore, should she be looking at?
Warren Chew, Caprica Healthcare
Most providers will offer a continuation option to the client on a Continued Personal Medical Exclusion (CPME) basis providing there is no break in cover. In general, providers now have personal plans that would be able to match the benefits of Anne’s existing cover all be it at a greatly increased cost. So there is likely to be an option available to Anne that provides cover for conditions that were eligible under the corporate plan.
The key is to establish open communication and ideally arranging a face-to-face meeting before advising Anne. Once the facts have been established such as her budget, additional medical concerns, how long she has been on the plan and been made redundant, and what benefits are required, we would be able to perform a comprehensive review. This should provide Anne with options meeting her specific needs. A number of providers would be happy to quote on a CPME basis for Anne, providing she can meet the requirement of the switch declaration and providing she is happy to proceed with the new plan with no break in cover. Providers usually permit 30 days grace to backdate cover in this situation. Depending on her budget we could look at varying excess levels as she is happy to meet some part of her claims. Maybe Anne hopes to gain employment where PMI cover is again offered, as such, it is key that Anne retains PMI cover to protect her existing medical history especially considering her stress related high blood pressure.
Jon Smith, Bupa UK Health Insurance
If Anne’s corporate PMI scheme was with Bupa, she would have a number of options when she transfers to an individual policy and can choose a level of cover that suits her personal circumstances.
Although Anne could choose to start on a new policy and be fully medically underwritten, meaning that she would not be covered for any pre-existing conditions, she may be eligible to continue her cover without any further underwriting.
This may mean that she would be covered for conditions which affected her for the first time during her corporate cover.
If Anne is concerned about her budget, which may be a worry while she is out of work, she may want to choose a more cost effective scheme such as Local HospitalCare, which would give her the peace of mind that treatments such as tests, scans and inpatient or day-case-treatment would be covered in full.
Alternatively, she may want to consider a scheme that will cover her for outpatient treatment such as BupaCare or Bupa LocalCare with a choice of excess to help keep her monthly costs down.
If, however, her corporate PMI scheme was not with Bupa, she would be able to join as a new member and may want to consider a policy which offers a no claims discount such as Clientchoice, which includes three levels of cover.
Anne would be eligible for a 20% no claims discount in her first year and could join on a moratorium basis.
Neal Archbold, Aviva UK Health
We would recommend that Anne transfers onto Aviva’s individual Health Solutions policy which has a modular benefit structure, enabling her to match her cover to her budget and the benefits she currently enjoys on her company scheme.
As Anne is happy to part-pay for her medical treatment, she could choose one or more of the cost containment options. By doing so, she could receive up to 66% discount on her policy. In addition, she could also receive a no claims discount depending on her past claims history.
If Anne is covered on one of Aviva’s company policies and transfers to her new individual policy within 30 days of leaving the company scheme, she can keep the same underwriting terms that she has on the company policy.
Irrespective of what level of cover she chooses, Anne will have access to a range of benefits designed to help her improve her health and wellbeing. She could, for example, take advantage of our discounted gym membership. But if gyms are not Anne’s thing, she may prefer to visit our comprehensive health management portal to learn more about managing her health and the steps she can take to keep her stress levels and blood pressure under control. She can also buy items like blood pressure monitors from the site.
If Anna completes our online questionnaire she’ll even receive regular emails offering her tips on how achieve her goals.
