Denplan Eldercare Benefit
Denplan has introduced an option that enables its corporate clients to now include eldercare cover for employees. Denplan says JP Morgan was the first corporate client to adopt this option, adding it to its flexible employee benefits scheme.
There are now over 11m people in the UK over age 65 and nearly 1 in 5 people in the UK will live to age 100. More working age people are therefore likely to have elderly parents and many of those will or could be financially dependent on their children to some extent. Over time, the ageing population is also more likely to have its own teeth (although just a few decades ago, some employers actually offered having your teeth extracted and replaced with false teeth as an employee benefit). Consequently, demand for dental treatment in old age can reasonably be expected to rise.
Eldercare Benefit enables employees to select dental care cover for their parents at the same corporate rates they and their partners receive.
Denplan says it offers a range of flexible dental plans to suit the needs of companies and their employees or a more comprehensive package for some or all employees.
Comment: Cross-generational protection products have long applied in areas such as PMI and health cash plans but that usually meant going down to cover children rather than up to cover parents. That is slowly changing and a possible new protection focus on long term care benefits may further encourage upwards cross-generational solutions emerging elsewhere too.
Older parents may no longer be working and increasingly will still have their own teeth so it makes sense for Denplan now to enable sons and daughters (and the option will especially appeal to those in higher paid jobs) to cover mum and dad’s dental costs as well as their own and their kids’.
It’s a positive trend that should appeal to some customers. For intermediaries, it’s also a great way to get to other generations and so to more easily increase their clientbase.
Plus points: A useful option, allowing employees to cover their parents’ dental costs as well as their own; Same cost as personal cover; Cross-generational options are good news for advisers as well as for customers.
Not so plus points: Not all employees will be able to afford to cover their parents) although they may choose to do an informal deal so that M&D pay them and they pay Denplan); Will employee costs be affected long term?; What happens when the employee leaves that employment or retires.
Website: http://www.denplan.co.uk.