Health Insurance For Small Business Owners (2024 Guide)
We understand the unique needs of small businesses. That is why we can organise tailored health insurance plans that can start with just one member insured – typically the business owner. This coverage can be extended to include your dependents, making it a tax-efficient and often more affordable option than purchasing an individual family policy privately.
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What you need to know about health insurance for small business
Cost Efficiency:
Running a family policy through your business is not only tax-efficient but also typically comes with lower premiums compared to individual health insurance policies. You commit for the year, but often insurers will allow monthly payments to help with small business cashflow.
Comprehensive Coverage:
Leading providers like AXA Health, Aviva, and Vitality offer one-man schemes that ensure you and your family are well-protected. Few people realize that small businesses can still access proper health insurance like this.
Medical History Disregard (MHD):
For businesses with a minimum of 15 members, MHD underwriting is available with some insurers. This means that pre-existing conditions are covered, providing peace of mind and comprehensive protection. There will usually be a risk filter towards heart/cancer treatment – the most expensive and higher risk of claims, but apart from that, it is typically easy to meet these criteria.
Quick Access to Care:
Employees can access top-tier medical care quickly, minimising downtime and ensuring they return to work sooner. NHS waiting times are significant; read our latest report here. Having staff waiting for medical treatment is inefficient for several reasons.
Different Underwriting methods can be available for each employee:
If you have a workforce with various levels of seniority, or even just ages/likely medical issues – you can choose different methods of underwriting for each. Typically, MHD is more expensive because it presents a greater risk to the insurer. So, one popular option is to set up MHD for more senior, or older/higher risk staff members.
Recruitment and Retention:
Offering robust health insurance can be a significant incentive for attracting and retaining top talent. It shows that you care about your employees' well-being.
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What are the benefits for your business?
1.
Fast Recovery
Employees can receive prompt medical attention, ensuring they are back at work faster and more focused.
2.
Peace of Mind
With health insurance, employees and their families are not burdened with worrying about medical bills or waiting for extended periods for treatment.
3.
Premium Healthcare
Access to luxury private hospitals and some of the best consultants in the UK ensures high-quality care.
4.
Employee Satisfaction
Health insurance is a valuable benefit that can significantly enhance job satisfaction and loyalty.
5.
Healthier Staff
It has been shown that people who carry health insurance are healthier in the long term. This is because they get medical issues treated quickly. They also do not have any financial reason to ignore symptoms either.
6.
Additional Benefits
Some of the best Insurers offer a wide range of fitness incentives, such as half price gym membership and discounted health technology. Read our comparison of these here. Staff will love them, and if they are already gym bunnies, they could save a small fortune.
How can you get health insurance for your small business?
Much like a private policy you have two options – go direct to an insurer or use a specialist broker like us! Using a broker will not cost you more, plus the benefits of getting the right advice can make all the difference. We would help with:
Assessing correct underwriting method for each member.
Help you predict the level of cover you need for a usable, but affordable plan.
Consider your local access to hospitals, and how those feed into hospital list choices (extended lists cost more, reduced lists reduce your premium) it is important to figure out the adequate level of access.
Insurers change their pricing regularly, which means it is essential someone compares value across the whole market.
When submitting P11D returns for benefits in kind, it can take some organising to pull these together for your own records, or for your accountant. We would help do this for you every year.
Each renewal, you really want to be shopping around and considering your options, it is obvious that staying with one provider directly does not allow for this and navigating the market yourself can be confusing.
Time is the biggest cost – why not let someone like us do all the background comparison work for you, there are no charges for our service as the insurer themselves remunerate us.
How Does business health insurance work?
Starting a claim is the same as an individual policy, which you can read about here. In short, you will normally get referred to a specialist via your GP. From there, you will be able to choose who and when you see that specialist. They will conduct the required diagnostic tests and then book you in for treatment as and when necessary. The insurer will pick up the costs of this assessment / treatment, deducting any excess payment on the policy, up to the agreed claim limit. This typically applies to outpatient cover, as most in / day patient treatment is normally covered in full. If your not looking for business cover, then you need to head over to our private health insurance page instead.
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Start A QuoteHow are membership costs calculated?
Insurers normally use a range of variables such as:
Group size
Underwriting method
Any high-risk pre-existing medical history
Location – this impacts your hosipital choices (some units are more expensive)
Cover level – comprehensive cover obviously costs more
Previous years activity (if you have been on cover before) they will assess your group ‘performance’, which is a fancy word for loss ratio. Loss ratio means, ‘did the insurer pay out more money than they took from you as payment’. IE are you profitable. If large claims have been made on the group, then the risk of future claims (for ongoing, or related medical history) increases and so should the premium to compensate.
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Investing in proper health insurance is a smart move for any business owner. It’s affordable, offers comprehensive coverage, and provides significant benefits for both you and your employees. Contact us today to learn more about our health insurance plans and find the best solution for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get Answers to Common Queries About Health Insurance Coverage
How Many Employees do you Need to get onto a Small Business Health Insurance Policy?
For some insurers you only need one member. Typically for preferential underwriting methods such as MHD (forgetting medical history) you need at least 15-20 members.
How much does the BIK (benefit in Kind) cost each Employee?
They will pay a tax for this benefit based on two variables – the value of their annual cover, and whichever tax rate they currently pay. You can read more about this calculation and taxation method HERE.
How Can I Reduce the Costs of Small Business Health Insurance?
* Shop around – use a proper broker who can assess the whole market for you. Some of the best deals are often only available via a broker. Consider switching Insurer at renewal, as SME (Small and Medium) health policies can change wildly in price year to year.
* Consider reducing your benefit – do you use, or are you likely to use all the cover you pay for? Sometimes reducing the outpatient cover or switching to a more limited hospital list can save a small fortune and still leave the insurance plenty usable.
* Increase your excess – bit of an obvious one, but like all insurance products increasing your excess will reduce the initial cost but be mindful of what this could cost your employees if they all start needing to claim.
* Change your underwriting method – this needs experience gloves, as one wrong move could invalidate any future claim. You need to carefully assess the medical and claims history of your staff, and if a switch to a typically cheaper method (like a moratorium) would be the right move. Any regular treatment such as medication to control a condition could well invalidate future cover for that condition.
“Speak to a specialist like us! We would be incredibly pleased to give you all the right advice.”
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