MSE News: Final nail in PruHealth's free gym offer

The_Brehon

Not sure if this has been posted before, but you can purchase a discounted polar heart monitors through;

http://polaronlineshop.pruhealth.co.uk/polar-fitness-products-1-c.asp

:T

rozeepozee

rozeepozee wrote: »

Hi, I'm a platinum member and although I don't get free gym membership at Virgin, I do get it for £7/mth with my Pru subs being £8/mth. I'm on the most basic of policies as I subscribe to help motivate me to keep healthy/exercise. I've never made a claim. I go to the gym regularly and also used Fitbug a lot in the past (though hardly at all atm as I'm pregnant with twins so have replaced my regular walking with swimming at the gym).

My question is can I/should I claim for my pregnancy (I wasn't going to before the changes because i didn't want to lose my no claims status). I think I get a payout on pregnancy (?£100). Now the benefits of platinum membership aren't so great is it worth me claiming for this which would offset the increase in my fees next year? My membership is up for renewal end of August and the twins are due early May.

TIA

To answer my own question, I phoned Pru and they said that I wouldn't lose my "no claims" platinum status if I claimed. It would simply result in an increase my premiums because they deduct last year's premiums minus any monies paid out on claims from the following year's premium in order to arrive at an amount for your premium in the following year (hope that makes sense). Since I'm having twins, my claim will be for £200 maternity payout so I'll have to balance that gain against the increase in my monthly premium plus the increased gym fees. Of course, I may just leave and join Virgin direct if it's just too expensive (having pocketed my £200). My OH has just joined Virgin on a standard membership (one month's notice) and it's £50/month. If you commit for a year, it's £43/month.

Having said that, I noticed above a poster having a success in negotiating reduced premiums and reduced gym fees. Has anyone else managed this?

littlerose12345

I have cancelled and they made no effort what so ever to keep hold of me!

QQuaver

rozeepozee wrote: »

Having said that, I noticed above a poster having a success in negotiating reduced premiums and reduced gym fees. Has anyone else managed this?

According to Silver Surfer: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=30749011&postcount=1626

Those people who joined between 1/1/2009 and 17/7/2009 and then took out gym membership are to be offered the pre 1/1/10 changes gym and insurance premium rates for another year. So until their 2011 renewal dates.

IronWolf

I've been looking into PruHealth, I haven't got any private health insurance at the moment. I am already a member at one of the gyms where they offer discounts, and I go enough to get probably 2000 points a year so no real effort for me really to get platinum.

The thing I am concerned about is claiming, I tend to pick up quite a few niggles and pains and would like to see physios and chiropracters from time to time, and claim. Would this end up increasing my premiums substantially? I can live without the no claims bonus but if they start giving huge increases because Im actually using the insurance policy then Im not sure its worth it.

Then again, are there any insurance providers who wouldnt increase premiums a lot because of frequent claims?

Edit: I also travel to france once or twice a year so a £10 eurostar ticket will save me about £100 per trip (as i usually fly and cant book too far in advance) so I have some incentive to choose this insurance plan

QQuaver

IronWolf wrote: »

Edit: I also travel to france once or twice a year so a £10 eurostar ticket will save me about £100 per trip (as i usually fly and cant book too far in advance) so I have some incentive to choose this insurance plan

The £10 tickets are not always available, but one could get 1st class tickets at a discount. It includes a meal & wine/champagne:cool:

IronWolf

ah, well thats good to know. What do you think of the insurance overall?

To be honest, I haven't seen anything that comes even close, given that it will knock off 25% from my gym membership which I pay anyway, thats already saved me about £12 a month, and with platinum Ill get effectively a 25% discount from the second year onwards. My initial quote was £32, so the extra cost to me, after a year, will be about £12 a month. Not bad for quite an extensive coverage, Im just worried that if I use it, that £12 will become £20-30

QQuaver

IronWolf wrote: »

What do you think of the insurance overall?

I haven't claimed to I don't know, sorry:o

Brize

IronWolf wrote: »

The thing I am concerned about is claiming, I tend to pick up quite a few niggles and pains and would like to see physios and chiropracters from time to time, and claim. Would this end up increasing my premiums substantially? I can live without the no claims bonus but if they start giving huge increases because Im actually using the insurance policy then Im not sure its worth it.

Then again, are there any insurance providers who wouldnt increase premiums a lot because of frequent claims?

The PruHealth no-claims discount starts at 25 per cent and increases by 5 per cent for every year that you don't claim, up to 35 per cent. Note here that the additional discount will only mitigate the annual increases - you won't actually see a 5 per cent reduction. If you do make a claim or series of claims in any one policy year, you will lose 10 per cent of your discount at the following renewal.

PruHealth's recently overhauled discount structure is quite favourable by market comparison - with some insurers, you can lose upwards of 25 per cent discount for a single claim.

Yes, there are still some policies available that allow you to claim without penalty, but they're becoming scarce and tend to be more expensive at the outset.

I won't comment on the niggles and pains that you mentioned. Suffice it to say that you should always take specialist advice when buying a medical insurance policy, even if you already have a specific insurer in mind. You can search for an advisor at www.amii.org.uk.

Brize

IronWolf wrote: »

My initial quote was £32, so the extra cost to me, after a year, will be about £12 a month.

Not quite. You need to factor in an annual increase on the insurance. Historically, PMI policyholders have seen their premiums increase by between 10 and 15 per cent each year, because they're a year older and because medical inflation runs considerably higher than general inflation.

Let's assume an increase of 12.5 per cent for illustrative purposes.

If your first year's premium is £32.00 with a 25 per cent NCD, your premium before discount will be £42.66. A 12.5 per cent increase on £42.66 would take it up to £47.99 in year two.

If you did make a claim, or series of claims, you would lose 10 per cent of your discount, which would take it down to 15 per cent. Thus, your new premium would be £40.79, less the 25 per cent Vitality discount for a payable premium of £30.59. From this you can deduct your gym saving of £12 for a net premium of £18.59.

If you don't claim, your discount will increase to 30 per cent in year two, which would reduce your premium to £33.59. The Platinum Vitality discount would reduce it further, to £25.19, and the £12 gym discount would result in a net premium of £13.19.

I should re-iterate that these figures are provided for illustrative purposes only. Annual increases on PMI policies are based on a number of factors including medical inflation, the performance of the insurer's portfolio and even factors outside of the insurer's control, like changes in Insurance Premium Tax. Accordingly, it's impossible to predict future premiums with any accuracy.

I hope this helps.