Savings increase with higher excesses, so, for instance, a £500 excess would reduce the Aviva premium to £455.40 a year, while the Medex premium would increase to £104. This gives an overall saving of £47.68 a year.
Six-week plans are another option. These pick up the cost of treatment, providing that the NHS waiting list in the area is longer than six weeks. Although they used to give a relatively chunky discount of between 20 per cent and 25 per cent, the saving has reduced.
“More conditions have NHS waiting times of more than six weeks now, so the discount has fallen back to around 15 per cent,” says Paul Moulton, intermediary distribution director at Axa PPP healthcare, who adds that it may make sense for these plans to move out to a 12-week waiting time.
Benefit restrictions
Removing benefits can also suit a policyholder’s requirements, with most insurers making their plans modular to facilitate this. As well as removing cover for items such as psychiatric and cancer treatment, policyholders could take a more radical approach and strip their plan back to inpatient cover only.
This ensures that any major treatment is taken care of, but leaves them having to pick up the cost of consultations and diagnostic tests themselves. These items are lower cost, with a consultation costing around £200, for example.
Ms Porter adds: “They could consider taking out a health cash plan alongside this stripped back cover. These can cover consultations and some will also pick up any excess.”
As well as chopping benefits, it can also be worth being more selective about where treatment takes place. Many insurers offer hospital lists that restrict where policyholders can go and some, such as Axa PPP healthcare and April UK, have plans linked to specific hospital chains. This can take anything from 10 per cent to 20 per cent off the cost of cover and can work well where the policyholder can easily access the selected facilities.
Future rates
While restructuring cover, or adding cost control mechanisms can help to keep premiums sustainable, it is also sensible to consider where IPT rates are likely to go in the future.
Stuart Scullion, executive chair of the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII), believes this is not the last rise. “IPT is seen as a low-hanging fruit by the politicians, who point to higher rates in the EU as a justification for the increases,” Mr Scullion explains.
“There is little resistance to the increases, and I fear they could look to equalise IPT with VAT at 20 per cent. Price is the main reason policies are cancelled: the increases in IPT could be the final straw.”
