PruProtect adds PMI to protection portfolio
Brokers will now be able to add private medical insurance (PMI) to protection plans from PruProtect at a discounted rate, enabling them to help clients avoid a costly overlap between PMI and critical illness cover.
By adding PruProtect's new Health Cover or Health Cover Optimiser options to the insurer's protection plans (life, serious illness or income protection), consumers can access private medical treatment as well as a lump sum or regular payment should they need to claim under the protection policy terms. This option enables consumers to get a 5% discount compared to buying the covers separately.
Altneratively, consumers can save up to 25% on the cost of buying PMI separately from PruHealth by choosing to add the Health Cover Optimiser to a Serious Illness Cover policy. This allows them to either take the lump sum from the Serious Illness Cover, and not receive any private medical treatment, or take a smaller lump sum, and use the rest to pay for medical treatment. For conditions that do not trigger a serious illness claim, the Health Cover would cover treatment in the normal way.
Three levels of health cover are available: comprehensive, primary and heart and cancer cover.
There is one application form and one number to make a claim but the Health Cover is an annual policy which means it will need to be renewed every year and may be subject to changes in premium or cover. PMI is subject to different underwriting terms to protection cover, which means that consumers may not be able to get Health Cover for the same term as protection benefits.
Currently, a small minority of protection IFAs offer PMI to clients, but PruProtect believes that demand for private healthcare is likely to increase as pressures on the NHS grow. Discovery, which has stakes in both PruHealth and PruProtect, recently bought the fourth largest PMI provider in the UK - Standard Life Healthcare - signalling its commitment to the market.
PruProtect is holding a range of launches around the country and quotes are available to intermediaries from June 12th.
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