Health Cash Plans

[Ferdinand]

I do not think we have discussed these as such, so a thread may be useful,.

 

Typically you pay a monthly premium  from perhaps £10 to £50 depending on level of policy and provider and get to claim back the cost of glasses, dentists, health screening checks such as WellMan or WellWoman, surgical applicances, "treatments" eg chiropractic or physio, and have various other benefits such as a daily payment if you are in hospital as a day or admitted case. Just claiming the glasses and the dentist costs often cover the entire cost, so the rest is a bonus in financial terms.

 

There is usually no medical, though pre-existing conditons are (usually - there are at least a couple of schemes that do not but may impose a longer qualifying period for some benefits) excluded.

 

We have touched on them as one way of accessing Discount Schemes at major retailers (personally I have saved hundreds via a family member who is in a scheme).
 

They also bring specific benefits for specific injuries if there is a Personal Accident element eg ££x for a wrecked joint or a cracked skull  or an amputation or loss of an eye etc.

 

There is a good, though slightly old guide on MSE here.

 

I am currently looking to join one as an individual and wonder if anyone has recommendations or can point to schemes that exist but are not well-known. I need cover for pre-existing conditions (diabetic), which is limiting.

 

Given that they can easily pay for themselves and then some,  it seems an obvious thing for Self-Builders to take out - especially given that we can get a daily grant for out or inpatient care, massage and other type therapies, accident insurance, and eg an extra auto-10% off at Wickes.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Ferdinand

[epsilonGreedy]

11 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Typically you pay a monthly premium  from perhaps £10 to £50 depending on level of policy and provider and get to claim back the cost of glasses, dentists, health screening checks such as WellMan or WellWoman, surgical applicances, "treatments" eg chiropractic or physio...

 

 

Your monthly premium range looks low, the typical forum member is going to pay £25-£30 monthly for dental cover alone. I lost my first tooth at the age of 55 due to the non interventionist policy "we'll keep an eye on it" of my previous Denplan insurance dentist.

[Ferdinand]

As I understand Denplan that is more about spreading the cost of expected relatively expensive treatment. These are more about everyday costs and usually require no medical.

 

Here, for example, is the premium / benefits table from Westfield Health  "Good4U" Health Cash Plan (information, not a recommendation). Premiums from £6.80 a month to just over £40,

 

 

 

F

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Ferdinand

[epsilonGreedy]

35 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

As I understand Denplan that is more about spreading the cost of expected relatively expensive treatment.

 

 

Denplan is a comprehensive monthly payment dental care scheme and includes 6 month check ups, hygienist, x-rays and ad-hoc treatment arising. It is the largest such plan in the UK and so is a good indicator of the going rate for such cover. You would need to spend £240 p/a with Westfield to cover predictable annual dental costs and would still be exposed to random £50+ costs for anything that involves a drill.

[Ferdinand]

4 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

Denplan is a comprehensive monthly payment dental care scheme and includes 6 month check ups, hygienist, x-rays and ad-hoc treatment arising. It is the largest such plan in the UK and so is a good indicator of the going rate for such cover. You would need to spend £240 p/a with Westfield to cover predictable annual dental costs and would still be exposed to random £50+ costs for anything that involves a drill.

 

Agree. Different animals. Denplan is not a Health Cash Plan, which is the category I was highlighting.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Ferdinand

[gravelld]

I'm sceptical it would pay back. If it did, why are these people in business? Can you provide more detail of *how* to make it pay back?

[ragg987]

They do pay back - I have used these in the past. They make money on the basis that once the direct debit is set it becomes income for life and people omit to take advantage of it - a bit like gym memberships.

 

I just started my subs with Sovereign. Have ordered my glasses and done a dental check, so once claim is in not needed for a few more years (hopefully).

[newhome]

My hubby had a policy like this provided by his employer via Healthshield. He didn’t claim on it at all for anything until I decided to claim for his hospital appointments when they were very frequent. I suspect that many of these policies are provided by employers and many people won’t bother with the paperwork required to claim what is in many cases a pretty small amount. So as @ragg987 says they take the money and rely on most people not bothering. Plus you would need to be claiming for multiple things to make the policy pay. 

 

My employer provides BUPA cover but many of my colleagues don’t use that either and use the NHS instead.  

 

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, gravelld said:

I'm sceptical it would pay back. If it did, why are these people in business? Can you provide more detail of *how* to make it pay back?

 

There's quite a bit more in the article linked. The below is also from a bit of research I have done.

 

A number of these organisations go back to way before the NHS, (eg 1870-1910s )and have their roots in mutuals to provide health care for ordinary people by putting a little aside each pay-day. I am not aware of any that are profitmaking - but I have only checked 3 or 4. Non-profit companies, Friendly Societies etc. So they may get some tax benefits, and have quite large memberships (eg Westfield: 400k menbers), and deal with schemes for companies and membership organisations (eg Unions) in addition to those for individuals. They also seem to have linked Charitable Foundations which make substantial donations to Health-type causes.

 

I would expect that the Rewards' programmes a few run are paid for by the companies getting the Trade. I dug into this but did not get very far. 10% off Wickes' or Argos' profit margin still leaves them being very profitable on the transaction.

 

I do not know what ratio of people who are members do not use their benefits, but there must be value in the bundled services.

 

They rebalance their packages of services and grants to match the state of the organisation every so often. One I am looking at is BHSF (was a "Hospital Saturday Fund") which includes eg personal accident insurance up to 100k depending on the level of premium. They are remodelled as "NHS Top-Up" type policies, and of particular value for people who end up with regular needs which are not covered on the NHS, or cannot afford or get PMI,  or are self-employed and want a cushion against the 'slings and arrows', or perhaps want to know what they will need to spend and have cover for the consequences of unexpected events eg if back trouvbe means they need regular physio for the rest of their life.

 

Age cutoffs are also generous, so may be good for some buildhubbers as we get on a bit ??.

 

F

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Ferdinand

[gravelld]

Any particular recommendation for a scheme for someone with no real health issues other than glasses and standard dentistry check ups?

[Alexphd1]

Am I reading correct the glasses amount above is over a 2 year period? 

[Ferdinand]

37 minutes ago, Alexphd1 said:

Am I reading correct the glasses amount above is over a 2 year period? 

 

For Westfield, yes. They are all different in their packages.

 

Since you can read my compressed screen dump, Dr Ferdinandus the Unqualified thinks you probably do not need them too often ;-).

 

It is like those low level security screenings:

 

Q Do I need to check you out?

A No.

Q Good then I don’t. Do you want a cup of tea?

 

I’ll post a list of the approx 10 such organisations I know about.

 

F

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Ferdinand

[newhome]

20 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Since you can read my compressed screen dump, Dr Ferdinandus the Unqualified thinks you probably do not need them too often ;-).

 

 

I thought I must be so blind that I couldn't even see the screen dump until I realised that it was in a post further up . Seems that they are all different as you say because the Westfield info you posted covers 100% optical but the claim period is over 2 years, whereas in the Sovereign link that @ragg987 posted it's 12 months but only covers 50% of the charges. Everyone needs to pick one that most closely aligns to their needs I guess. I believe that this cover is provided by my employer too as an extra that the employee has to contribute to. I've never even looked at it before TBH as I was happy knowing that I had PMI, but I might take a look and see if there is any advantage to having it. We have to opt in each year so I can always leave if there is no advantage. Dental work is always eye wateringly expensive and even the highest benefit amount wouldn't make a dent in that. 

 

We received £20 per hospital stay for my husband up to the max of 25 stays per claim year so over 2 years we got £1000 from them as he was there so much. They did email him after he died and asked why he had cancelled his membership though which was a crass thing to do!  And another company wrote a letter afterwards saying that they understood his circumstances had changed. No shit huh! 

[Ferdinand]

These are a few Cash Plan providers known to me:

 

Westfield Health - https://www.westfieldhealth.com/individual/health-cash-plan

BHSF http://www.bhsf.co.uk/personal/healthcashplan

WHA Direct http://whahealthcare.co.uk/our-plans/#personal

Sovereign Healthcare https://www.sovereignhealthcare.co.uk/personal/

WPA  http://www.wpa.org.uk/products/cash-plan/overview.aspx

Orchard Healthcare http://www.bhsf.co.uk/personal/healthcashplan

Healthshield http://www.healthshield.co.uk/

 

I am sure there are others.

 

F