PatientChoice Premier
PatientChoice has recently renamed its products as Hospital Treatment Plans and has now introduced a new top level plan, which is called Premier.
Essentially, PatientChoice plans provide a cash lump sum to pay for specific treatments rather than take the usual PMI (private medical insurance) approach of indemnifying hospital treatment costs. As such, customers can make a ‘profit’ by shopping around to find the best value treatment but may find that some treatments covered by conventional PMI are not covered.
Premier differs from PatientChoice’s other plans by providing an additional annual £1,000 pot to cover diagnostic tests and specialist consultant fees. It also pays up to £1,500 a year for scans, up to £25,000 a year for operations and medical treatments and up to £15,000 a year for chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Where the customer chooses to have NHS rather than private treatment, the plan’s maximum cash payout is £5,000. A maximum of three procedures a year can be claimed for and there is also a lifetime plan benefit limit of £25,000. Plans are available from age 18 to 80. Children are covered up to age 21 or 25 if in full-time education.
Operations are grouped into 12 categories, with the lowest (e.g. removal of a skin lesion) paying out £850 (or £200 if NHS treatment is chosen) and the highest (e.g. for a quadruple heart bypass operation) £25,000 or £5,000 for NHS treatment. Over 1,500 operations and medical procedures are covered.
There is an annual excess of £100 for specialist consultations, diagnostics and scans. Moratorium underwriting is standard. The plan is underwritten by Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK).
Single cover for someone aged 30-34 would cost £26.92 a month, compared to £24.27 under an Access plan or £17.65 under an Essential plan.
Plus points: Covers the most common procedures and is likely to generate a cash sum on claiming (by shopping round for treatment, which Patient Choice can help with, through Medical Care Direct or by having NHS treatment); That can help cover incidental costs (travel, loss of income etc.) or be used for a post-treatment holiday for example; This new plan also covers most out-patient costs too; Can be considerably cheaper than conventional PMI.
Not so plus points: Does not cover all treatments or out-patient care; There could be a shortfall, especially if complications occur (although that may be avoidable if a fixed cost treatment package is chosen); There are also treatment limits (three a year) and an overall lifetime limit; Customers must trust PatientChoice to have covered all the most likely treatments.
Website: http://www.patientchoice.org.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 6. Overall: 7. Silver.