The first inter-generational healthcare plan has been launched by insurer WPA, allowing a whole family to be covered under one group policy.
The multi-family plan allows older generations to provide healthcare for extended family through the group scheme, with significant discounts over individual plans per member.
Pricing is determined by the life and ages of the family members included, pooling together all the details into one family premium.
Individuals can tailor their cover and further reduce their costs by up to 50 per cent with the shared responsibility scheme, where the cost of medical treatment is shared on a 25/75 co-payment basis until the customer reaches their chosen maximum annual limit.
Any individual included can pay the premium and cover can be extended to any family member related by blood, marriage, civil partnership, adoption, fostering, or cohabiting couples.
Switch, moratorium and full medical underwriting options aim to make purchasing the inter-generational healthcare plan straightforward. If the extended family already has healthcare coverage, WPA will look into enrolling the whole family with simplified switch underwriting terms.
There are no age limits on the plan, allowing the oldest generations to be part of the competitive multi-family discount. Customers also have the freedom to choose by whom they are treated and where.
www.wpa.org.uk
Comment:
Almost 1m families are covered by individual medical insurance, but premiums are rising faster than UK inflation. WPA takes a unique stance in making premiums more affordable with its multi-generational healthcare plan. As with most things, buying in bulk tends to be the more cost-effective option.
The baby-boomers have become the financial powerhouse generation. According to WPA research, grandparents give a total of £2.8b a year in cash to grandchildren, funding one in four private school pupils, and providing as much as 35 per cent of all childcare for families with working mothers.
The plan aims to allow parents and grandparents to continue to provide for the wellbeing of their children and grandchildren while avoiding cash handouts. Further research from GfK in December 2012, said 74 per cent of medical specialists would recommend WPA to family, friends and colleagues over other healthcare providers.
The strength of the WPA’s multi-family plan is in its flexibility, while offering significant premium reductions for families that live at several addresses. It is about structuring family finances effectively, as the older generations play a key role in family funding with potential tax advantages – the ‘Bank of Granny and Grandpa’, as referred to by WPA.
