Is pru health medical insurance any good if you need to claim on it?

fairy2

Due to spiraling costs of very small group company health insurance we are in the process of finding a new insurer. Pru health came in with more competitive quote but having done very basic internet research there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with them including the fact that (a) it is difficult to get authorisation for treatment (i.e. not just a case of phoning up and getting a code but having to go back to doctors and get forms filled in before treatment is authorised which would literally take weeks at our surgery) and (b) the fact that renewal quotes for existing customers are noncompetitive and that existing customers seem to get better rates from 3rd party brokers at renewal rather than direct from pruhealth. I have also seen references to groups/individuals being re-unwritten again after say 5 years despite having no claims etc which I did not quite understand (please can someone explain?). I should be really grateful for any messages of experiences of people have had of using them.

We are not interested in discounted gym membership etc so really more interested in quality of the cover when someone is ill and not all the bells and whistle perks on offer.

Many thanks for your help. Fairy.

fairy2

bumping for hopefully some reply. Thanks.

specialistpmi

Morning Fairy,

Pru Health are a solid company, however renewals do increase more with them if you claim. the reason for this, is that they start you on a 65% NCD level, which is there maximum. other companies have scope to increase/decrease NCD, whilst Pru starts you on the highest level to begin with.

What you mentioned about going to the doctors with a form is fairly common, there can however be another method if you choose a different underwriting like 'MHD' medical history disregard. You need a certain number of people on the plan to qualify for this however. There is another option called a switch... this may suit you better.

Best wishes