Health cash plans are a simple and affordable way for employers to look after the health and wellbeing of their employees. They can help organisations of all shapes and sizes to reduce absenteeism, improve their duty of care, and increase the morale and productivity of their workforce.
With UK organisations now keen to proactively look after the health and wellbeing of their employees, health cash plans are ideally placed to deliver an option to achieve this. Their popularity with employers continues to rise, with figures from LaingBuisson showing that the number of employer-paid cash plans increased by three-and-a-half times between 2007-2014.
Rather than standing still, the industry is also always evolving to provide greater choice, personalisation and a growing range of health benefits and preventative services.
Bespoke and flexible health cash plans
Health cash plan providers now offer more choice than ever to meet different needs and budgets. There are plans to suit workforces of all levels and sizes. Organisations can also choose between an employer-paid plan or a voluntary plan, which is paid for by employees through their payroll.
However, the biggest change in recent years has been the increasing number of organisations looking for more flexible and bespoke programmes. This seems to be linked to pensions auto-enrolment, which has led to many reviewing their wider health benefits. Some want plans with optional upgrades that can easily slot into their flexible benefits platforms or voluntary benefits schemes. Others want to be in control and mix and match health benefits to create their own bespoke plan to meet their budget, priorities and the needs of their workforce.
Quick and simple one-size-fits-all schemes are no longer the default choice. More organisations want to spend time looking at the different options to create one-off plans with tailored benefits, pricing and terms and conditions.
Flexible use
Employers want their employees to make the most of their health cash plan. So, providers now also offer greater flexibility in how these are used. Processes are being simplified and claims are getting quicker. Health cash plan providers are staying abreast of technological developments to ensure they can always offer the highest level of customer service and claims management both online and offline.
The needs of employees have never been more varied, and health cash plan suppliers continually respond by offering additional benefit options which are flexible and can be easily accessed across all kinds of channels including email, telephone, live chat, social media and the post.
And it is not just employees who want processes to be simpler and more flexible. Rather than having to manage lots of different offerings, employers want their health cash plans to sit seamlessly among their existing benefits platform. This is where a bespoke or modular scheme can really come into its own.
A flexible future
It is not easy to anticipate what health cash plans will be like in 2020. But it is expected they will continue to evolve to offer greater flexibility and meet the needs of employees and employers, while effectively managing conduct risk. Future cash plan products could: Offer greater speed and flexibility with new technologies leading to faster claims and truly paperless systems; become easier to use with more personalisation and digital communications speeding up support and processes; and enable organisations to tailor them in brand new ways, while offering an even greater choice of health benefits and preventative benefits.
As the UK economy continues to pick up, it is predicted that spending on healthcare will grow too. All the signs are that, by embracing new technologies, health cash plans can continue to be a useful resource for employers in the future, constantly evolving to fulfil the healthcare needs for all employees.
Philip Wood is executive director of sales and marketing at Health Shield
