HealthFund can save you money on health insurance

 

    

Do you have a brochure to explain how HealthFund works? 
 

Yes.  We have an ebrochure which sets out the unique features of the HealthFund approach. You can view the ebrochure, save or print it by clicking on the link below.

View HealthFund ebrochure

The key benefits of HealthFund can be summarised under three headings:

 

 

 HealthFund Insurance

 

·         Up to 75% saving *  on traditional health insurance premiums

·         A rolling excess which we believe is the fairest in the market, protects your health fund

·         Choice of how much you contribute to your treatment: £1,500, £3,000 or £5,000 (also known as your excess level) - more info

·         Option to increase your excess to reduce premiums as you get older

·         Comprehensive benefits so you know you’re covered

·         New anti-cancer drugs covered

·         Use any hospital or consultant

·         Children, parents and grandparents can be covered in an extended family scheme

·         No claim forms to complete

·         Immediate acceptance with no medical forms to fill in - more info

·         Refund of unused premiums if you cancel your membership

 

* Example:  HealthFund’s premium for a person aged 45 with £1,500 excess is £502.95 at 1/11/09 compared with a leading competitor´s age 45 health insurance premium of £2,115.04 at 1/209 for Scale B hospitals (no excess) –  a reduction of over 75%.

 HealthFund Medical Helpline

 

·         Staffed by nurses and doctors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

·         Independent, works with HealthFund members as their advocate, not for an insurance company

·         Members will always talk to a nurse or doctor about their medical conditions

·         Service driven by the needs of the patient, not the insurer

·         Help given with any condition, irrespective of whether it is covered by the insurance

·         A hassle free and comprehensive service delivered by clinically qualified staff

·         Arranges hospital and consultant appointments, buy treatment and support members through the entire process, so all they have to do is get well again

·         Market leading ratio of clinically qualified staff to members

·         Support whether you choose the NHS or private treatment

·         Mix and match NHS and private treatment

·         Provides information about the NHS, including waiting lists, hospital infection rates, consultants and centres of excellence so members can make informed decisions about where and when to have their treatment

 

 

 Your Personal Health Fund

 

·         Your own interest bearing account with the Bank of Scotland

·         Always your money – spend it on any medical treatment including cosmetic treatment

·         No limit on how much you can save in your health fund - more info

·         Access whenever you want to withdraw money from your fund

·         Earn our top rate of interest on your entire health fund on a daily basis

·         Use the fund for your whole family according to their needs

·         Your fund entitles you to preferential rates for all medical conditions, saving you even more money

  

 

Why not get an Online quote now by clicking the button above or if you want more information go to our comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions by clicking the FAQ button?
 

Having looked at the videos, key benefits and features above, we hope you are interested in becoming a HealthFund member. There are 3 main decisions you will need to make during the application process

 

Decision 1.  How much do you want to contribute to the cost of treatment?
Decision 2.  How do you want to build up your health fund?
Decision 3.  Which method of Medical Underwriting do you want?

The following notes are to help guide you through each of these and explain them in more detail.
 

Decision 1.  How much do you want to contribute to the cost of treatment?

Like most people you will probably want to know how much it will cost and if you haven’t done this already it’s very easy. Just click on the “Online quote” button on this page above, or on the Home page, and follow the instructions. At this stage you are not committing to anything and you don’t have to enter the names of the people you want the quote to include. When obtaining your quote you need to choose what level of contribution you wish to make towards the cost of your treatment before the insurance kicks in. This is known as the Excess.

One of the major advantages for HealthFund members is the greatly reduced cost of premiums. We achieve this through the principle of “shared risk” – this means you contribute towards the cost of the private treatment for yourself and any members you want to cover under your scheme, up to a pre-determined level. You choose this when taking out your membership and the insurance pays for costs above this “Excess” level. In basic terms this means that you are prepared to pay for minor treatments - such as consultations with specialists, diagnostics and physiotherapy - or the first part of treatment costs for more serious medical conditions, such as cancer and heart conditions. This is very attractive to insurers as it pretty much guarantees their customers are genuine and will behave in a predictable and fair way and they price the risk accordingly. HealthFund members commit to holding a sum of money in their personal health fund bank account up to the “Excess” level they have chosen – the choice is between £1,500, £3,000 and £5,000. Because you can choose different Excess levels for different members of your family, you will need to fund your account to the amount of the highest Excess level you have chosen.

Once you have chosen your Excess level, press the “Get quote” button. You will then see a new page with the annual cost of the insurance premium and 3 Options to build up your personal health fund. (Please note that if you click on the “Requote” button at the bottom of this page you can go back and change details, such as the Excess level, to get a different quote until you find the one that best suits you).

   

Decision 2.  How do you want to build up your health fund?

The good news is that the money you deposit into your personal health fund account does not have to be there on day 1, you can build it up over two years, although if you wish to deposit the full amount or more when you join, that’s fine. Also you only need to build up funds initially to the value of the highest Excess chosen, and the really good news is this money is always yours and you can remove it at any time you choose – after all life is unpredictable. An Excess applies separately to each member but it is not necessary to build this up for each member unless you want to.

The reason we need you to keep the value of your chosen Excess level in your personal health fund is so that our medical team can buy you treatment quickly if you need it.  If you are building your fund up over two years and you suddenly need treatment that costs more than you have in your fund at that point in time, we will ask you to top up your fund to meet the cost, or to the level at which the insurance kicks in. Prompt payment is one of the big levers we use to negotiate the best discounts for our members, which helps us to save you money.

In deciding how you want to build your fund, you will be presented with three simple options which allow for different “contribution” patterns. Whichever option you choose, the money will accumulate interest in your own personal account until it is needed by you, or someone else covered under your family scheme. The three options are...

Option 1 – Monthly Savings

This option automatically calculates the minimum monthly contribution required over two years to build your personal health fund up to your chosen Excess level of £1,500, £3,000 or £5,000.  

Option 2 – Lump Sum

Under Option 2, an amount equal to the full amount of your chosen Excess level, £1,500, £3,000 or £5,000, is immediately deposited into your personal health fund account.  

Option 3 – You Choose

Under this option you are only choosing to build up your personal health fund account. There is a calculator shown with this option and you can enter any sum in the first box, press calculate and the second box will tell you how much you will need to deposit monthly over the next 24 months to reach the Excess level in your account. So you can play around to see what the effect of different lump sums has on the minimum monthly payments. 

A final word on contributions – for those people who like to ring-fence funds for life’s uncertainties then HealthFund is a useful technique. As you now know, the fund always remains the property of the individual member and their family and can be withdrawn at any time. So, you can make extra contributions in the confidence that they will be earning interest and are available should you need them for any purpose.

  

Decision 3.  Which method of Medical Underwriting do you want?

This sounds technical but is really pretty straightforward and you won’t need to decide this until you are into the application process. Most health insurance policies exclude pre-existing conditions. These are medical conditions which an individual had before applying for cover.

Unlike some other providers of medical insurance, HealthFund offers a choice of two Medical Underwriting options for our members.

The first is on a “Moratorium Underwriting” basis and is very simple as it requires no medical form filling; it means we can accept you and your family as HealthFund members immediately. It works like this: You will not be covered for any pre-existing medical conditions which occurred in the 5 years immediately prior to you becoming a HealthFund member. However, if you remain treatment and symptom free for any two consecutive years after joining HealthFund, these conditions will become eligible for cover in the future under the terms of your policy. The same conditions apply to any of your family members who join your scheme. If a member needs to make a claim on their insurance policy, our nurses and doctors will review their medical history at that time and let them know if they are covered.

The second method is known as “Full Medical Underwriting” (FMU). If you elect this we will not be able to accept you for cover immediately as you will need to complete a full health questionnaire detailing your medical history and the medical history of anyone applying with you. This will be reviewed by our insurance underwriters, who are likely to exclude any historical medical conditions from future coverage.  These conditions will show as exclusions on your insurance schedule and will normally be permanent.

We are obliged, like all providers of medical insurance, to include FMU as a choice although in practice very few members select this method. There is no cost differential for choosing either option.

That’s it! I hope this explanation helps you to better understand the membership process.  If you need further help please see our comprehensive FAQ sections or, use the “Questions, click to chat live” button in the top right corner of each page, or click on the “Contact us” button in the menu at the top of each page and drop us an email.

We look forward to welcoming you as a HealthFund member.