Kellogg’s has switched its private medical insurance (PMI) from a healthcare trust arrangement to a fully-insured scheme to improve its cost-effectiveness and the service for employees.
The food manufacturer carried out a market review to see the cost impact of a trust compared with fully-insured schemes. As a result, it terminated its deal with Medisure in favour of Aviva providing insurance and PMI Health Group as front-line facilitator of the claims process.
Sandy Wilson, interim European reward director at Kellogg’s, said the current competitiveness of the insurance market had enabled the company to obtain favourable premium levels. “We wanted to create a long-term relationship with an insurer where we were both comfortable about the risk profile we are building up over a two- or three-year period,” he said. “Insurers are currently more open to negotiate around the level of premium and also comfortable with long-term relationships.”
The new arrangement offers Kellogg’s staff the extra benefit of being able to access medical advice and guidance on costs and treatment options before claims are made.
PMI is provided for management-level staff as a core benefit, but all employees can opt to pay for it through the firm’s flex scheme, CornFlex.
The changes were communicated via email and intranet, and the employer also produced a branded booklet and membership card setting out the terms of the policy and key contact numbers.
“This gives us a good platform to look at the wider occupational health environment,” said Wilson. “We are trying to pull together a more packaged approach to absence management, employee assistance programme and PMI.”
Sandy Wilson will be speaking about Cost-effective motivation at Employee Benefits Live on 30 September.