Bupa business health insurance

Bupa's business health insurance policy provides tailored coverage for your company's size. Their small business policy covers companies with 2-249 employees, while their corporate coverage covers firms with over 250 staff. The Select policy provides similar core coverage, but the corporate policy has additional features to help you manage a larger workforce.

Let's look at the details.

Small business health insurance

When you run a small business, sickness absence can significantly impact your success and business growth. Health insurance lets your employees access treatment quickly and also provides services to help them improve their long-term health. Bupa health insurance offers various options so you can tailor your coverage level to your needs.

Three levels of cover

Bupa health insurance gives you three levels of business health insurance coverage to choose from, as follows:

Level 1 - Select Key

Level 2 - Select Enhanced

Level 3 - Select Complete

Each level offers more comprehensive coverage than the last. As the name suggests, Select Complete provides the most comprehensive coverage with unlimited coverage in every treatment category. The other levels include financial limits for some treatment types and full, unlimited coverage in others.

Core coverage

Here's what Bupa's core coverage includes.

In-patient treatment

Bupa describes in-patient and day patient care as 'hospital care' on its website and in policy documents. If your employee needs a hospital admission, your health insurance will cover treatment at any eligible hospital, including accommodation costs. The hospitals your policy covers vary depending on your chosen coverage level, but there are no financial limits on the treatment available.

Out-patient treatment

Bupa health insurance provides out-patient treatment as standard with all its health insurance policies. By contrast, many health insurance providers offer limited out-patient services, with some treatments available only as optional extras that incur an additional cost. With Bupa, your staff can access consultant appointments, diagnostic tests, physiotherapy and alternative therapies as needed. Select Complete (level 3) provides unlimited coverage, while levels 1 and 2 have financial limits of £1,000 and £1,500, respectively.

Cancer cover

Bupa offers full cancer cover with every policy, meaning your employees can access a comprehensive range of treatment options as needed. The policy covers everything you'd expect, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Private healthcare services can often authorise the use of new drugs and cutting-edge treatments more quickly than the NHS. There's an option to receive chemotherapy at home, and support services include specialist counselling. Policies also cover end-of-life care.

Mental health cover

Bupa health insurance covers more mental health conditions than any other insurance provider. Coverage includes access to up to 45 days of in-patient or day-patient care as standard, along with in-person or online counselling, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Health insurance typically excludes addiction treatment. However, Bupa insurance will fund one course of therapy for addiction per employee. Some insurers exclude mental health cover for employees needing repeated treatment in multiple policy years, reclassifying it as a chronic condition, but Bupa doesn't. They only exclude chronic conditions, such as dementia or learning difficulties.

Diagnostic scans

If an employee sees a consultant who recommends a complex diagnostic scan, such as an MRI, PET or CT scan, the policy covers it on request.

Complementary medicine

Bupa health insurance covers alternative and complementary therapies at every coverage level, giving your employees a broader range of options. They're available as part of your out-patient treatment allowance, with separate financial limits depending on your chosen policy level. Level 1 provides an allowance of £250 from the overall £1000 allowance. At level 2, your employee can use the full £1500 allowance for complementary therapies if they wish, and there's unlimited coverage at level 3.

Other services

Bupa offers various services to help your staff access health advice and treatment quickly. These include:

• 24/7 virtual GP appointments
• A nurse-led telephone helpline
• A menopause support helpline
• A family mental health helpline where parents can seek advice for their children's mental health worries
• Direct access to treatment for cancer, musculoskeletal issues and mental health issues without a GP referral
• An NHS cash benefit if an employee receives treatment at an NHS hospital that their insurance would have covered

Hospital list

When you invest in health insurance, your policy includes a hospital list detailing the private and NHS hospitals and clinics it covers. Levels 1 and 2 of Bupa's small business health insurance give you access to their 'Essentials' list, which includes over 300 UK hospitals. Level 3 includes their 'extended choice' list, which has over 600 hospitals and treatment centres. It's worth checking what's available in your area when making your choice. The extended list typically includes hospitals in major cities which have higher treatment costs. If your business is based in Central London, consider adding the 'extended choice with Central London' option to give your employees more choice close to home and work.

Alternatively, you can choose the guided care option.

What is the guided care option?

The guided care option is more affordable than a full hospital list and gives your employees a shortlist of recommended consultants and hospitals when they claim. The recommended consultants usually have lower treatment costs while still providing high-quality care.

Optional extras

While Bupa offers excellent health insurance coverage as standard, its optional extras let you add more services if needed. You can also invest in their standalone dental coverage and well-being services if you don't have Bupa health insurance.

Dental cover

Bupa dental insurance offers five coverage levels, all of which include routine check-ups, a scale and polish, and treatments such as extractions and fillings. They'll also pay 80% of the cost of major restorative dental work. The amount your employees can claim for treatment varies depending on your chosen policy level. There's also coverage for dental emergencies and accidental damage.

Well-being support

We've mentioned the well-being support services available with Bupa's core health insurance coverage. You can expand on these by adding any of the following, which are also available as standalone services without health insurance:

• Employee health assessments with anonymised data to help you track health trends
• Private GP and nurse appointments
• Cash plans that let employees claim cashback on routine healthcare costs.
• An employee assistance programme (EAP) with access to counselling and ad hoc support
• Workplace flu vaccinations or vouchers to cover the cost
• Access to musculoskeletal advice and physiotherapy
• Women's health services for menopause and period support
• Mental health support, including workplace training

Bupa's corporate coverage provides additional services to help you manage the health needs of a larger workforce. The core coverage is the same as level 3 of the small business policy, with comprehensive coverage throughout.

Here's what you can expect from Bupa's optional extras for corporate customers.

Optional extras

The well-being services we've already mentioned are available on both the small business and corporate plans, along with a few others that Bupa insurance offers only to its corporate customers.

Mental health support

The 'Mind Matters' programme includes the EAP that provides confidential third-party counselling to your team. You can also add resilience and stress management training for employees and line managers, and change management or critical incident support and counselling, as needed.

Business services and insights

Suppose you add employee health assessments to your coverage. In that case, you'll benefit from anonymised data to help you monitor workplace health trends and create a well-being strategy to support your team. Your employees will also receive support in setting and achieving their health goals. With a corporate plan, you can also request support to help you develop your wellness strategy.

The Bupa Academy provides training on workplace health risks and health topics, with well-being resources that employees can access based on their needs and interests.

Every health insurer applies standard exclusions to its policies, meaning some conditions won't be covered. Common exclusions include accident and emergency treatment, cosmetic surgery and treatment for allergies. You can see a list of Bupa's exclusions here. Bupa also excludes chronic illnesses that need ongoing monitoring and management from cover.

Other exclusions vary depending on an employee's medical history, while your policy's underwriting also affects exclusions and how it operates.

Pre-existing conditions

Pre-existing conditions are any illnesses for which an employee sought medical advice or treatment during the five years before joining the policy. Depending on underwriting, an insurance provider applies a two-year moratorium period when an employee joins the policy. If they stay symptom-free, your insurer can remove the exclusion.

Underwriting

As we've mentioned, insurers typically apply a two-year moratorium, excluding pre-existing conditions from cover, which applies if you have moratorium or full medical underwriting. With moratorium underwriting your employees won't need to supply medical information when they join the policy. However, if they claim your insurer will review their medical history to determine whether any exclusions apply, this can lengthen the claims process. With full medical underwriting, they must complete a medical questionnaire when they join the policy, which clarifies exclusions from the outset.

As a business, you may be able to choose medical history disregarded underwriting. As the name suggests, there will be no exclusions based on your employees' medical history.

If you like the sound of Bupa's business health insurance but want more information to make an informed choice, our specialist brokers are here to help. At Globacare, we provide independent advice tailored to your needs to help you find the best health insurance for your business.