Best Business Health Insurance Providers In The UK

AXA Health, formerly known as AXA PPP Healthcare, has been providing private healthcare services in the UK since 1940. It's also one of the world's largest insurance providers, offering car, home and business insurance as well as providing health insurance.

Their business health insurance provides comprehensive coverage for acute conditions, along with various optional extras, allowing you to tailor your coverage to your specific needs. Their private medical insurance also lets your employees access over 250 private hospitals across the UK.

What policies do they offer?

AAXA Health insurance offers small business health insurance for companies with between 1 and 249 employees, meaning you can invest in health insurance and expand your coverage as your business grows. It also offers a corporate health insurance policy for larger firms with 250 or more employees.

They provide core coverage plus an extensive range of optional extras to give you more comprehensive coverage depending on your needs.

Core private medical insurance

All of AXA's health insurance policies cover treatment for musculoskeletal conditions, cancer and mental health challenges as part of their core coverage. Your employees can also book appointments with their virtual GP service, which operates 24/7, allowing them to seek medical advice, request consultant referrals, or obtain a private prescription at a time that suits them.

There's also a range of optional extras that vary depending on your chosen policy.

Small business health insurance

AXA's small business health insurance offers various options that allow you to tailor your coverage, including diagnostic tests, scans, and consultant appointments, in-patient and out-patient treatment, an extended range of mental health and physical therapies, and two levels of cancer coverage. Every policy includes online access to a GP, but you can add a private GP option to provide your staff with face-to-face appointments when needed.

Their Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers counselling, mental health support and telephone helplines to assist with life's challenges, such as debt advice or family worries. There are two levels so that you can choose your preferred option. You can also add travel insurance, health assessments and employee vaccinations.

Corporate health insurance

AXA's corporate health insurance includes everything that small business health insurance provides, along with a few additional benefits. Comprehensive cancer cover comes as standard. They'll also provide engaging communications to help you share the benefits of your private medical insurance with a larger team.

Corporate customers also benefit from an extended range of services, including neurodiversity assessments and support, fertility investigations, menopause advice and guidance and tailored support for employees experiencing gender dysphoria.

Cashback

Cash plans pay your employees cashback when they book their routine healthcare appointments or receive NHS care. AXA's business health insurance doesn't cover optical or dental care, but offers a cashback option, so your employees can claim when they book treatment or routine check-ups. There's also an allowance to pay for health assessments and an NHS cash benefit if they receive in-patient treatment in an NHS hospital that the policy would otherwise have covered.

Well-being support

Good well-being support can help your employees stay in good health. We've mentioned AXA's EAP, which is available with small business and corporate health insurance policies. Their small business health insurance policy also offers a 40% discount on in-person or online memberships at Nuffield Health clubs and Hussle's Monthly+ pass, providing employees with access to multiple gyms.

Corporate clients can also add health and well-being consultations that measure and assess employees' physical and mental health.

The main benefits

• Fast access to private treatment at over 250 private hospitals.
• Health insurance with good core coverage and an extensive range of optional extras.
• Treatment for musculoskeletal conditions and cancer care as standard.
• Access to a 24/7 online GP and health advice.
• Discounts on health club membership and other rewards.
• Cashback options.
• A choice of over 250 private hospitals and 33,000 specialists.
• Advice and services to improve your employees' health.
• Outsourced occupational health services and healthcare surveillance with corporate policies.

Vitality health insurance focuses on improving its customers' health and well-being, offering health insurance with incentives for setting and achieving healthy living goals. The Vitality Programme offers rewards to its members, allowing them to earn more by engaging in physical activity. Perks include discounts on gym memberships, activity trackers and free coffees.

They also have a no-quibble guarantee that they'll pay all your employees' treatment costs.

What policies do they offer?

Vitality offers small business health insurance to companies with up to 249 employees. If you have more than 100 employees, you can choose their corporate health insurance. If you have between 100 and 249 employees, this approach provides you with the flexibility to select the policy that best suits your business.

Let's look at what Vitality's corporate and small business health insurance policies have in common, and the main differences between the two.

Core private health insurance

Whether you choose a corporate or small business health insurance policy, your employees are covered for some key services as standard. All of their business health insurance policies include in-patient treatment, including tests and scans during a hospital stay, comprehensive coverage for cancer treatment, up to six sessions of physiotherapy by a provider in their network, private GP appointments and up to eight counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy sessions. Their primary care coverage includes up to £100 per year for private prescriptions and diagnostic tests.

There's also a menopause support service via the Peppy app.

Small business health insurance

Vitality focuses on keeping your employees healthy, but their health insurance still provides access to an excellent range of private healthcare services. We've mentioned the core coverage included with Vitality's policies, but you can enhance your coverage by adding optional extras to your business health insurance.

Every policy includes some mental health support, but with a small business health insurance policy, you can extend this to include unlimited talking therapies and psychiatric in-patient and out-patient treatment. You can also add out-patient cover for diagnostic tests and unlimited physiotherapy, therapies cover and optical, dental and hearing coverage. Vitality also offers an employee assistance programme, worldwide travel insurance and a personal health fund to cover routine healthcare costs.

Corporate health insurance

Vitality's corporate health insurance offers the same coverage as its small business health insurance, along with additional benefits as standard. The cancer coverage is more extensive, and your business benefits from expert support to help you adjust an employee's work while they recover.

The mental health cover covers all members regardless of their medical history, which is increasingly rare in the current market. All corporate customers can also access the Headspace meditation and mindfulness app.

Employee benefits

One of the main benefits of Vitality's health insurance is that it supports your employees in improving their health without incurring additional costs, and it can also help them save money on the things they already buy.

We've mentioned Vitality's rewards programme, which provides perks and discounts to all members, with the opportunity to earn more through healthy living. There are two different levels which you can access depending on your chosen policy. Small business customers can access Vitality Select, which provides discounts on gym memberships, fitness equipment, activity trackers and travel. Corporate customers can access enhanced rewards via Vitality Plus.

Employer benefits

Vitality's healthy living rewards don't just benefit your employees; they can also earn you discounts on your private medical insurance premiums. Vitality also supports you in administering your health insurance scheme. Their small business health insurance comes with a client portal. Corporate customers can access the Employer Hub to add new employees and remove those who have left easily. The hub also has resources to help you educate your workforce about their health insurance benefits. Your policy also includes employee health assessments, and the hub provides tools to help you assess the results and create a workplace well-being strategy.

You can use their ROI calculator and survey data to consider whether Vitality health insurance is the right choice for your business.

Vitality at Work Enterprise is also available even if you don't invest in private health insurance. It provides health assessments and resources to support healthy habits, plus data and insights to help you plan your well-being strategy.

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The main benefits

• Fast access to treatment for you and your staff when they need it.
• Coverage for primary care, including some diagnostic tests, cancer cover and mental health cover as standard.
• A full coverage promise to pay all of your treatment expenses.
• Digital tools to book online GP appointments, report new conditions and self-refer for physiotherapy and CBT.
• Rewards and discounts to support and encourage a healthy lifestyle.
• Health screening and support to help employers devise a workplace well-being strategy with corporate health insurance.

Aviva is one of the UK's largest health insurance providers, offering comprehensive coverage as standard.

Their business health insurance policies offer different coverage levels to provide a policy that reflects your business needs.

What policies do they offer?

Aviva's business health insurance comprises the Solutions policy for small businesses with 1-249 employees. Their Optimum policy covers larger businesses with over 250 employees.

What's included as standard?

Both of Aviva's policies provide coverage for acute conditions, including cancer treatment, in-patient care, out-patient treatment, and mental health support in the form of talking therapies, without the need for a GP referral. Their BacktoBetter scheme provides physiotherapy and case management for musculoskeletal conditions.

Each policy also offers a variety of optional extras, with a more extensive range of options on the Optimum policy.

Solutions business health insurance

Small business health insurance customers can extend their coverage and add more services as needed. These include enhanced mental health care, with in-patient and out-patient psychiatric treatment. You can also add coverage for optical and dental care, which provides for routine check-ups and treatments, as well as accidental dental injuries up to a specified financial limit.

Most health insurers only cover acute conditions and exclude chronic illnesses that can only be managed rather than cured. However, Aviva offers an optional extra that provides specialist consultations and tests for employees with chronic health issues.

Optimum business health insurance

As mentioned, Optimum is designed for larger businesses and includes the same additional treatment options as the Solutions policy, with a few added extras. You can add more cancer cover to provide an NHS cash benefit, routine monitoring and a wider range of treatments. There's also support (but not treatment) for neurodevelopmental conditions, fertility and family planning and gender identity issues, which you can add separately according to need.

Expert choice

Private medical insurance includes a hospital list, which sets out the hospitals the policy covers.

Solutions includes their Expert Select hospital list as standard, meaning your employees will receive a guided choice of hospitals when they claim. However, you can upgrade to offer them a free choice if you prefer.

Optimum customers benefit from a full hospital list as standard. You can also upgrade to include an extended list by paying a higher premium. Extended lists typically cover higher-cost hospitals in London and other major cities.

Well-being

Well-being support is a highly valued employee benefit. Aviva offers different well-being options depending on your chosen policy.

The Solutions policy provides a telephone helpline providing confidential stress counselling and advice.

Both policies include apps for various services, including booking online GP appointments. The GP app is available to employees and their family members. Employees can also set healthy living goals and access support to achieve them with action plans and resources. The app syncs with most fitness apps and tracking technology.

You can also use the app to access team well-being challenges, which help build team spirit and encourage positive workplace relationships.

The main benefits

• Excellent core coverage, including out-patient treatments as standard.
• The BacktoBetter scheme provides expert case management for musculoskeletal conditions, making it ideal for employees who spend most of their time at a desk.
• A range of optional extras that allow you to tailor your coverage to suit your specific needs.
• Access to additional optional extras for corporate customers with 250+ employees.
• Expert choice and hospital list options to help you tailor hospital and consultant choice to your budget.
• Well-being support services, including access to online GP appointments, stress counselling and apps that help your employees to set and achieve their health goals.

Bupa is one of the most easily recognisable names in the health insurance market, with its extensive network of private hospitals and healthcare facilities across the UK.

With Bupa, your employees can access private treatment at a Bupa hospital or another recognised provider. Most insurers put an upper age limit on new customers, meaning you can't add new employees to your health insurance coverage if they're over that age. However, Bupa doesn't, meaning you can add new employees even if they're past normal retirement age.

What policies do they offer?

Bupa offers small business health insurance to businesses with 2-249 employees, and Bupa Select, their corporate health insurance, to those with 250 or more employees.

They offer some of the most extensive mental health coverage on the market. Many health insurers now limit coverage or reclassify mental health issues as chronic, thereby removing them from coverage if there are repeated claims. Bupa doesn't, making it an ideal choice for employees who work in high-stress environments.

What's included?

Bupa offers different levels of coverage for small businesses. Still, all policies include in-patient treatment, unlimited digital GP appointments, diagnostic scans, mental health support, cancer care and support for musculoskeletal issues without a GP referral. Employees can also claim cashback if they receive NHS treatment that their insurance would have covered. Bupa also provides telephone helplines offering family mental health advice and support for menopause, as well as a member rewards scheme.

Bupa Select provides all of the above, plus out-patient cover and extended mental health coverage.

Optional extras

Bupa offers excellent core coverage alongside options to tailor or add to your policy. Bupa's small business health insurance allows you to add out-patient cover, out-patient complementary medicine, and three extended hospital lists.

With Bupa Select, you can also choose to add other services, such as dental insurance, workplace flu vaccinations, and a cash plan, so employees can claim cashback on routine healthcare expenses that their health insurance doesn't cover. Their Well Health offering provides health screening and support for various health needs, including fertility, menopause and nutrition advice.

Business tools

You can add various employee health assessments to any of Bupa's business health insurance policies. These assessments provide varying levels of information and advice, allowing you to tailor them to your team's specific needs. Bupa will also provide data to help you understand your team's health and well-being needs and design health strategies and initiatives to support them.

They've also partnered with JAAQ (Just Ask A Question) to create JAAQ at Work, which aims to increase employee engagement by providing resources to support employees' physical and mental health, raise awareness of various health issues and signpost staff to further support if needed. The platform also provides anonymised data to help you identify health trends.

Support for employees

Bupa offers two different mental health programmes. Their small business policy provides the option to add an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), a confidential third-party counselling service that employees can access 24/7 for support with workplace or personal issues, such as money worries.

Corporate health insurance offers the Mind Matters programme, which includes the same EAP along with a critical incident, death in service or major change counselling programme, which includes on-site support if necessary. They've also removed most of their standard exclusions, including pre-existing conditions, to allow them to offer support regardless of an employee's medical history.

The main benefits

• Fast access to private healthcare.
• A choice of up to 600 treatment locations.
• The most extensive mental health coverage on the market.
• Access to online GP appointments and health advice 24/7.
• The option to add family members to your policy.
• Discounts and rewards.
• Employee and business support on comprehensive policies, depending on your chosen policy.
• No age limit on coverage.

The right health insurance provider for your business will depend on your specific needs and budget. We hope this overview has helped you understand what's available. If you'd like tailored advice to find the right private health insurance policy for your needs, please get in touch for a comparison quote.