Newsletter Mar 2012

Employers in the dark on overseas healthcare provision

Health Insurance & Protection Magazine

07/03/2012

Workers unsure too

There is a significant lack of understanding among employers about healthcare abroad in general and rules and regulations about healthcare provision in particular, it has emerged.

Businesses surveyed at a recent international healthcare seminar say they feel they are unable to keep up with the changing healthcare legislation in different parts of the world in spite of the fact that they are aware their employees rely on them to look after their needs. - click to read more

Just 5% of employers at the seminar, held by Jelf Employee Benefits, said that they felt they completely understood the rules for international healthcare in all the countries in which they had employees deployed. Only 2% said they believed their employees understood the rules for international healthcare completely in the country in which they were working and living.

That is in spite of the fact that 98% of employers surveyed believe their staff outside the UK rely on them as employers to ensure they had adequate health cover.

Separate research reveals that expat employees do think about healthcare provision in their new country of residence but the findings from the Jelf seminar suggest that their needs are often not met due to employers feeling to seek specialist advice.

Almost two fifths (38%) of employers surveyed worry that the healthcare cover they have for some of their employers outside the UK is not adequate. Just under a third (29%) believe their employees may feel they did not have adequate cover for themselves, with 43% believing they may feel they had inadequate cover for their dependents.

Government vows to tackle "hidden" NHS waits

Author: Pru Health

Hi-Mag 17/11/2011

Currently, 90.7% of people receive inpatient treatment within the 18 week target. However, of the 2.6 million people on waiting lists, 250,000 have waited for longer than this time, of which just over 100,000 have waited for longer than six months and 20,000 for more than a year.

Variation across the country also exists. The King's Fund reported last month that 45 trusts – over a quarter – admitted less than 90% per cent of their patients within 18 weeks, more than double the number of trusts failing the 18-week target in August 2010. More than 20% of people still waiting for treatment have waited for longer than 18 weeks in the Wirral, Kingston, Wandsworth, Somerset, Sutton & Merton and Richmond & Twickenham. There is also variation across types of treatment. Nationwide, less than 90% of patients are seen within 18 weeks after being referred to trauma & orthopaedics, ENT, oral surgery and neurosurgery.

To read the whole article click here

Medisave Independent Healthcare Launch new Broker Website!

Author: Gillian Campbell

11 April 2011

Medisave Independent Healthcare, Northern Ireland's leading specialist private medical insurance brokers are pleased to announce the launch of their new website www.medisavepmi.co.uk .......read more

Gillian Campbell, proprietor of Medisave said " the site was designed with ease of use in mind so that customers looking for information on all aspects of medical insurance could find what they needed quickly and easily. All too often, comparison websites providing health insurance quotes focus only on price and not on the what the policies actually cover, how they work in practice, or what the client is actually getting for the money they pay".

"For those looking at some kind of cover for the very first time, it can be very confusing and we feel it is all about helping a client to understand how PMI works, in the first instance, so that they can be clear about what they expect from this type of insurance, before we even put quotes together for them. The medical insurance market is, unfortunately, not a level playing field and it is very hard to compare 'like for like' when it is a subject you are not familiar with. You can very easily ending up spending money on benefits which you neither want or need or make a mistake by switching to, what looks like a cheaper product but which doesn't work like you thought it would when you come to use it".

"We hope that providing clear information on a site which is easy to use will help visitors find out what they need to know about their personal situation, quickly and in a concise format, so that they can make informed decisions about their current cover or any new cover that they may be about to take out."

"Much as I hate to use the phrase, we are really are a 'one stop shop' providing everything you will ever need to know about healthcare insurance".

AMII calls for levelling of PMI taxation playing field

Author: Paul Robertson

Cover| 21 Mar 2011 | 14:41

The Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII) has called on the Chancellor to remove tax disincentives in the treatment of employer-paid private medical insurance (PMI)......read more

AMII made the call ahead of this week's budget, saying it could alleviate cost pressures on the National Health Service.

The previous Labour administration introduced the Employers National Insurance charge on employer-paid private medical insurance. This charge is due to increase to 13.8% from April and comes on top of a 1% increase in Insurance Premium Tax to 6% effective from January 2011.

Employees are taxed on this benefit, as a P11D benefit-in-kind, at their marginal rate of tax.

AMII noted these tax charges are not applied to other group risk health insurance benefits - such as group protection or employee health screening.

Andrew Tripp, chairman of AMII, said: "The current tax treatment of employer funded PMI is not only inconsistent with how other forms of group risk insurance are treated, but is also a perfect example of taxation working against the intentions of other Government initiatives,"

"Removing the current tax disincentive for employers who wish to fund private healthcare for their employees, would not only have a positive effect on the public finances, by relieving pressure on over-stretched NHS budgets, but prompt access to treatment will also result in lower welfare costs for the Government."