In 2020, we supported 6,964 health insurance members and paid £18.6 million in claims.
Chris Pollard, Chief Operating Officer, explains ‘in a year when private hospitals were not able to operate fully, we’re proud to have helped almost 7,000 members access treatment. Almost one in four of our claims were for musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders. Cancer-related claims represented 23% of the total value of claims.'
‘Regrettably, we could not pay 4% of our claims in 2020. These were for conditions not covered by members’ plans. Buying health insurance can be complex and it’s so important that our members understand what is covered. That’s why we work closely with health insurance advisers to ensure they have all the support they need when recommending a policy from The Exeter. In fact, last year 98% of our health and protection policies were sold through advisers.’
Supporting members during the pandemic
We introduced a range of ways to support our members during the pandemic, including:
- Access to a virtual Clinical Support Centre where members could access specialist consultations with some of the UK’s leading specialists and practitioners by telephone or video consultation.
- An enhanced cash benefit that offered £500 per night for members receiving free in-patient treatment, in addition to any benefits they already had on their policy. By the end of March 2021 we paid £1.36 million in enhanced cash benefit to our members.
- Improvements to HealthWise*, our member benefits service, with the addition of lifestyle and nutrition consultations and access to registered dietitians. HealthWise usage more than doubled in 2020 with the remote GP service being accessed by more than one member for each day of 2020.
If you would like a detailed overview of how we supported health insurance members with claims during the pandemic, please book an online briefing with our team.
*HealthWise is provided by Square Health.