Renewing your corporate PMI contract

How to get a better deal

PMI still remains possibly the most popular and emotive employee benefit meaning employers have been reluctant to stop offering it. What measures can you take to keep PMI costs under control?

Benchmarking

Some companies don’t benchmark their existing policies against other organisations including those in their sector to make sure their premium is competitive. Without benchmarking they could be missing out on more competitive rates.

Open referral

With most policies it is usual for a GP to refer patients to a specific consultant. However, savings can be made by using ‘open referral’ whereby the patient is referred to any consultant with a particular specialty for treatment. The insurer will guide the patient to a consultant from an approved list.

Admin fees

These fees can vary greatly, so it is worth taking the time to compare and to ensure any fees you pay are clear and transparent.

Cancer cover

There are numerous options for financing covers and covering all eventualities can have very significant costs. Most employers opt to provide full cover but there are alternative options such as using the NHS for initial diagnosis and treatment, but then to use private treatment for anything not available on the NHS.

Introduce an excess

An excess of £100 per person, per year is now pretty standard. This will immediately have a positive impact on claims risk and provide savings on premiums.

Joining at point of renewal

Try to ensure that members and their dependants only join the scheme at the point of policy renewal each year. If you don’t it will have a significant impact on claims as people could be joining because they are ill. The only exception to this would be lifestyle changes, for example marriage and the birth of a child.

Retirees

Policies need to be designed so that the subscription is neutral for all employees irrespective of age. However, it is advisable to remove retirees from the scheme upon retirement as the risks rise considerably, which impacts the future costs for employers and employees.