The health cash plan provider reported a rise in contributing policyholders and written premiums in 2012 despite a fall in the number of households taking out such plans.
Matt Allen, finance director at Medicash, said: “We do expect the number of individual policyholders to continue to decline because of the continued pressure on household income and redundancies across the public sector, [however] we expect the number of employer-paid policyholders to increase, as the popularity of cash plans as an employee benefit increases.”
His comments came as figures from the provider showed an increase in the number of policies and policyholders. According to the data, written premiums rose from £19.6m in 2011 to £20.4m by the end of last year, while the number of contributing policyholders increased from 131,000 in 2011 to 135,171 in 2012.
Key stats
£19.6m to £20.4m – the rise in written premiums year on year to the end of 2012131,000 to 135,171 – the rise of contributing policyholders from 2011 to end of 2012
Adviser view
Joss Harwood, director of Eldon Financial Planning in County Durham, said: “For £15 a month, how much benefit do you really get out of these plans, given the limits put on how much you can claim? They don’t cost too much, but I don’t know whether you’d get real value if you’re only entitled to approximately £100 of dental and optical cover, for instance.”
