At Ascend Health, we know that every Business Health Insurance policy must deliver on many levels. Healthcare benefits are offered to valued staff and key team members. This helps you as an employer to retain your employees.

Customer service, benefit levels and cost are all factors in making a decision about which business health insurance policy you buy. Group private medical insurance is available for companies with only one member. It is more common for business health insurance to be a two or three main member policy. SME Company schemes are generally age rated premiums. Corporate or large business health insurance are experienced or flat rated policies.

What options are there for business health insurance?

Many of the business health insurance policies will allow you to have different levels of cover. Maybe you would like your directors and managers to have full refund policies but your team leaders and general staff to have a reduced level of out-patients cover? There are many options available to company schemes. We are a specialist health insurance broker and would be happy to help you work out what you need. Business Health Insurance is an ever-changing market and we have many years’ experience.

All members on a company paid/group scheme should be employed by the business. Your insurer could at any time request proof of employment either verbally, or with a copy of a wage slip or P60. Most insurers will insist on the premiums being paid from a company bank account whether by cheque, BACS or Direct Debit.

What other policies could you consider for business health insurance?

Alongside the private medical insurance, many companies also consider a Cash Plan. This is a low-cost policy providing staff with help towards everyday healthcare costs. Cash plans do not rely on GP referral and therefore treatment is often dealt with quickly. Company cash plans do not exclude pre-existing medical conditions.  They are a great value to the business and a popular benefit to employees.

Dental insurance, Health Assessments, Employee Assistance Programmes and occupational health solutions are all available as business health insurance options. All choices should be considered when you contemplate exactly how to spend your business health insurance budget.

Company private medical insurance policies are annual contracts and as such cannot be cancelled mid-term. The annual contract may not apply if your company goes into liquidation or you move abroad. If you are unhappy with your current insurer for any reason, please speak to one of the team at Ascend Health as they may be able to help you resolve any issues you have.

Company private medical insurance schemes are generally very flexible. They offer business owners a great option for health insurance. Company policies are rated in a different way to individual policies. The more members you have covered, the better the rates you pay. As a common example, a company scheme with 20 members (employees) would pay a better rate per person than that of a scheme with 2 members.

Business health insurance benefit levels

Benefit levels vary greatly and many providers offer a modular product enabling you to choose from a list of options. You can tailor your cover to your own specific requirements. Some people only want cover for In-Patients and day-patient treatment. Others like to have the peace of mind that everything is covered. Benefit options include cover for mental health, out-patients consultations, and therapies such as physiotherapy, osteopathy and acupuncture.

Company health insurance add-ons

Some UK health insurance providers offer add-on benefits. These include travel insurance, dental and optical benefits and Employee Assistance Programmes. Many business owners choose to cover these elements in one policy, for simplicity. The travel insurance element tends to remain for the life of a policy rather than on an age basis.  Providing you are still employed by the company and eligible for the private medical Insurance benefit, the travel cover should remain in place.