21st Century Health Plans will use NHS Trust facilities to provide low-cost PMI
21st Century Health Plans is the latest provider to use the facilities of NHS Trusts to provide cheaper private medical insurance (PMI).
The Hospital Advantage Plan allows policyholders to utilise the surplus private capacity of more than 120 NHS hospitals in the UK. Policyholders can choose the NHS hospital they want to use, be treated by NHS consultants in NHS operating theatres, and have the back-up of NHS emergency facilities.
The plans can work out up to 50% cheaper than other schemes, and each patient using the facilities will generate £290 which is paid back to the NHS. A typical policy for a 40-year old would cost £327.47 annually for comprehensive PMI, whereas similar policies cost over £1,000. A plan for a 60-year-old would cost £692.87, almost a third of the cost of some other plans.
Jo Clark, group sales and marketing director at 21st Century Health Plans, said: 'The target audience for the plan are those classed as C1 and C2 who may not have bought PMI in the past because it was too expensive.'
Norwich Union Healthcare has offered a similar scheme, Trust Care, since 1993.
Louise Zucchi, media relations manager at Norwich Union Healthcare, said: 'NHS hospitals do not charge as much as private hospitals for the use of their facilities. This is partly due to economies of scale ' because everything is under one roof, charges to insurers are lower and this saving can be passed on in the form of reduced premiums.'
However, Les Curson, director at PMI consultants Nicles, was sceptical as to how effective the plan would be, because it is not always as easy to get into an NHS Trust as it is a private hospital. He said: 'Using NHS Trusts depends on the occupancy levels, and so which hospital is used may depend on whether the local hospital has a private wing, or a few private beds, as there may be people in them already.'
