For many companies, Private Medical Insurance (PMI) is an essential part of their wellbeing approach. PMI helps keep employees fit and healthy, enabling them to feel good, feel valued and continue to contribute high-quality work.

Traditionally, PMI offered support for big ticket health needs, but the nature of the product has changed over the years. It now allows employees to access healthcare in a way that’s more tailored to their circumstances, helping them to skip NHS waiting times, receive expert advice and take proactive control of their health.Bearing all this in mind, it’s perhaps little surprise that almost a third of employees rank PMI ahead of all of their other benefits.ⁱ

However, recent years have seen a significant shift in the PMI landscape. Premiums are on the rise, and to ensure this valued benefit is a sustainable option for companies to offer we need to think of smart ways to help keep PMI costs low.

Why are PMI costs rising?

There’s no single answer to why PMI premiums are increasing. One thing that’s clear is that since the pandemic, public attitudes surrounding PMI have changed. What was once considered a luxury has now become a necessity for many people, especially if they want to avoid putting more pressure on an already struggling NHS. In fact, PMI companies have seen an 118% increase in the number of enquiries since 2020 – clearly indicating high demand.ⁱⁱ

Higher usage is also affecting prices. As more people take out PMI, more people make claims, resulting in more payouts and the need for higher costs to cover medical treatment being received. There’s also inflation to consider. At the time of writing, medical inflation is sitting around 9%ⁱⁱⁱ - a not insignificant figure that’s pushing up prices across the board.

A third, more positive reason is that PMI policies are becoming more inclusive. Modern PMI coverage often contains cancer scans and other useful health checks that require state-of-the-art equipment to perform. These checks aren’t cheap, so policies need to increase costs to ensure that employees are getting access to treatments that can make all the difference.

But how can companies help control PMI costs moving forward?

Maximising benefits for your employees

If you offer employees a diverse range of healthcare and wellbeing benefits, you have everything you need to help boost your people’s welfare without them jumping straight to PMI as a solution.

For example, say an employee is struggling with their mental health. Giving them access to ways to exercise and improve their mental wellbeing, as well as services such as counselling and other helpful benefits, is a smart way to encourage them to seek support before they make a claim through PMI.

Another example could be using health assessment services or other health-related benefits to help people identify any potential issues before they become problems that they’ll want to use PMI to solve.

Fewer claims mean lower overheards, keeping PMI affordable, sustainable and available for those who need it most.

Comms make all the difference

Making employees aware of their other benefits and engage with what’s on offer is key. A comms campaign can make all the difference in inspiring people, alerting them to their options and helping them to connect with available resources that will support their mental and physical wellbeing. The most effective communications work with human psychology to support behaviour change. This approach can help your people to embrace new habits, motivating them to make proactive choices to manage their health rather than waiting until a moment of crisis to take action.

Our team of benefits engagement experts are on-hand to help you deliver messages that matter to your people. So, if you’d like to maximise your benefits offering and help keep your PMI premiums low, get in touch and see what we can do for you.