PruHealth Business Healthcare
Since taking over Standard Life Healthcare’s PMI book last year, PruHealth now has over 700,000 members and an 11% market share of the UK PMI sector.
From 1 March PruHealth is launching a new range of personal, business and corporate plans to take over from its existing PruHealth and Standard Life Healthcare products (new plans only, initially). Our review is based on the new age-rated Business Healthcare proposition, which is built around having Core Cover, which provides:
• Full cover for in-patient and day-patient hospital fees, specialist fees and diagnostic tests.
• Out-patient MRI, CT and PET scans.
• Core cancer cover.
• Added benefits. These are home nursing; NHS hospital cash benefit; childbirth cash benefit; parent accommodation, and private ambulance.
Customers can then choose:
• From four underwriting types.
• One of five excess levels (from £0 to £1,000) and whether per claim, per year or Vitality-linked.
• Premier, London, Countrywide or Local hospitals.
• To enhance out-patient cover (choice of six options up to full refund); out-patient diagnostics (up to full cover); therapies benefit (£350 a year or full refund); psychiatric cover (£15,000 or £29,000 a year, including a £1,500 out-patient limit); private GP helpline; personal health fund (health cash plan style benefits – optical; dental; health screens; physiotherapy; chronic prescriptions or enhanced gym discounts); employee assistance programme; emergency overseas cover; dental cover, and worldwide travel cover.
A linked Vitality programme rewards healthy lifestyles through awarding points. This reduces future premiums on Personal plans or gives discounts from reward partners on Business and Corporate plans. Discounts are available on spending e.g. health screens, gym membership, holidays and stop smoking sessions. Members also earn Vitality points through healthy eating at Sainsbury’s and also have access to a range of health-related information and advice.
Plus points: PruHealth has managed the tricky issue of bringing two providers’ plans together in a proposition that links a menu/option approach with another variation on the Vitality concept; Adding a Personal Health Fund (giving HCP style benefits) should be useful in these straitened times too, meaning many employees can benefit every year rather than (on average) just every four years (on a typical PMI only plan); The Vitality approach has won many fans since 2004.
Not so plus points: Not a simple product, so it takes time to learn; Can be expensive if all options are chosen; Requires employees to take an active role (through Vitality) to get the best benefits out of the plan.
Website: http://www.pruhealth.co.uk.
Rating (max 10). Innovation: 8. Overall: 8. Gold.