Health365
Health 365 is a new online direct to consumer health insurance product offering simple, quick and affordable health cover from £15 a month.
Health365 is a new sub-brand for leading health cash plan provider Westfield Health and is its venture into online insurance.
The plan itself has four modules and two premiums levels (min and max), which apply to the Core and Therapies benefits (the other two are fixed). Reimbursement is 100% up to the policy limit and customers must choose at least one module in addition to the Core module:
• Customers must choose Core Health Cover. This pays for or towards therapies (up to £300 or £600 a year—for min or max), optical (£100 or £200) and dental (£100 or £200) costs and pays a nightly rate up to £40 or £50 for up to five nights a year for hospitalisation.
• Scanning and screening. This pays up to £150 a year. Scans must be consultant referred.
• Consultation. Pays up to £150 or £600 a year.
• Surgery Choices. Covers 60 common surgical procedures and pays up to a lifetime limit of £100,000. These are listed and explained in the policy document. This element of the plan is underwritten by Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK).
A key element of the proposition is the website. This not only includes text and PDFs of things like policy summaries and documents but also short videos explaining each element of the plan. These are available in both high and low definition and each lasts around 30-50 seconds and gives a simple overview. The videos each took around half a minute to load—but that is more a reflection of the very slow broadband rate in ePR’s rural office location than a criticism of the website (although a factor for all providers to be aware of when considering complex websites).
The website allows the customer to build their own plan by deciding who should be covered (individual, couple or family) and how much of each level of cover they want.
An individual choosing maximum benefits would pay £39 a month, a couple £78 and a family £85 a month. Rates are not age dependant.
Plus points: Simple to understand and buy; Well set out interactive website makes buying easy; Videos are a useful bonus; Choice of cover options; No age or gender ratings; A cut price alternative to traditional PMI and HCPs.
Not so plus points: More limited cover and choices compared to many PMI and HCP plans; The internet is popular for buying such as motor insurance, but success to date in the protection and health insurance areas has been more limited; The videos can be slow to load and give little factual information about cover levels.
Website: http://www.health365.com.
Rating (max 10). Innovation: 8. Overall: 7. Silver.