AXA PPP healthcare Personal Health
AXA PPP healthcare has introduced a new personal private medical insurance (PMI) plan called Personal Health. It is a modular plan and the core plan pays for:
Inpatient and daypatient treatment.
Outpatient surgery and scans.
Private ambulance
Nurse administered intravenous antibiotics.
An NHS cash payment of £50 a night up to a maximum of £2,000 a year.
Oral surgery (certain procedures).
Heart cover.
Cancer diagnostics, surgery and scans.
Children’s cover.
To these core benefits, a number of options can be added:
Standard outpatient option. This pays for up to three consultations a year.
Full outpatient option. This pays full outpatient benefits.
Therapies option. This pays for up to ten sessions a year after GP referral. Further cover is also included within this option.
Mental health option.
Dentist and optician cashback option. This pays 80% of eligible costs up to £300 a year and £140 a year respectively, plus £25 a year towards an eye test.
Extended cover option. This pays up to £500 a year for private GP, and adds no limits on specialist fees and overseas treatment.
European or worldwide travel cover options.
Adventure sports upgrades within a Travel Cover Option.
Customers can also then look to reduce costs in a number of ways:
Six week option. This reduces premiums by up to 25%.
There are six excess options, from £100 to £5,000 a year.
Paying annually earns a 5% premium discount.
A no claims discount applies. The maximum NCD is 80% and there are 17 levels, with the lowest being 0%. A protected no claim discount is also available.
NHS cancer support option. This option does not pay for cancer treatment but does pay for licenced cancer drugs that the NHS will not pay for (and administering the drugs too).
There is a choice of full medical underwriting or a 5/2/2 year related (rolling) moratorium and advantageous switching terms are available to those currently insured elsewhere. Babies are covered free from their birth until their parents’ next renewal date. An online package allows customers to manage much of their membership information online, including making claims and getting information.
Comment: Modular plans are now very popular in the personal PMI space as they allow customers to hit a price level they are comfortable with, albeit at some cost regarding what the plan will then pay out for. Modular plans are not perfect (it can be hard to get exactly the right options, while, if you want everything covered the total cost can become prohibitive) but they are a practical and understandable solution to the growing price issue.
In its literature, AXA PPP focuses on elements such as family, cancer and heart (the two big expensive worries for many when it comes to private medicine) and like the fact that customers can speak to a physiotherapist, as that will often avoid a time-consuming and expensive personal visit. ON cancer referrals, same day cancer appointments are targeted where possible.
Pricing is based around open referrals (although this is not mandatory), with AXA PPP doing all the arranging. Alternatively, the customer can get the names of up to three specialists and then contact them direct. Open referral is a bit of a Marmite benefit – but it can deliver sustainable cost advantages its advocates say, even if that means some (theoretical) loss of choice.
AXA PPP says its’ no claims discounts are ‘market leading’ and certainly, the maximum NCD is an impressive sounding 80%. But high NCDs can also mean reverting to a very high premium if you make frequent claims. So watch out for a high initial rate (at the time of writing we were not able to confirm the starting rate). The ideal is to pay a competitive initial premium that has the lowest (ideally zero) NCD and to then have fast NCD increases in future but only small downward steps if you do claim. That’s the ideal from a customer’s point of view, but not from an insurer’s!
Overall, the plan should do well, partly because it’s from AXA, and partly because AXA PPP has done its homework and looks to have produced a plan that should meet most people’s needs.
Plus points: AXA PPP is the second biggest PMI provider; New modular plan with a good range of core benefits and options; Good focus on family, cancer and heart – three of many people’s major concerns; Cover can be tailored to need and budget and even includes some optional cash plan type benefits.
Not so plus points: Based on open referral – which is still a Marmite concept to many (although a non-open referral is also available); NCDs can become very expensive if frequent claims are made – and many people do not understand how this work in practice as the marketing focus on all NCDs focus is invariably on savings rather than potential downsides; Adding all options results in very high premiums.
Website: http://www.axa-ppphealthcare.co.uk
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 8. Overall: 8. Gold
Tags: PMI; AXA PPP healthcare