Was PMI designed for middle aged white men?
Corporate private medical insurance has long been an employee benefit offered to, typically senior, employees as a part of their reward and benefits package. When we look a little more closely it’s easy to spot that this corporate insurance was designed at a time where the gender pay gap wasn’t widely measured, the glass ceiling was in full swing and white male privilege was simply business as usual.
At that time, a large proportion of the UK workforce was made up of white middle aged men, so it makes sense that private medical insurance cover was initially geared towards the specific ailments or common healthcare issues of this group.
The challenge with corporate private medical insurance comes from positive movement in society. UK businesses are publishing gender pay gaps, addressing recruitment bias, and nurturing equality, diversity and inclusion through their culture and values. They’re addressing mental health, understanding that physical, mental, emotional wellbeing breeds productivity and can drive down private medical insurance claims.
Free webinar series: How HR saved the world
Was corporate health insurance designed for middle aged white men?
6th July 2021, 11 – 11:45am
Workplace wellbeing has shifted from yoga and free fruit to an essential tool which can create savings on corporate health insurances by reducing overall risk. The logic is, when companies invest in workplace wellbeing they educate their employees, create a healthier workforce and experience less claims. Less claims = lower risk. Lower risk = lower premiums for the business.
Corporate private medical insurance will rightly always have a place in employee benefits. It’s vital to offer employees’ quick access to excellent healthcare when they need it. The facts are, it doesn’t always cater for everyone, and sometimes the claims are avoidable.
Financially, this insurance has increased in cost year on year, which not only affects the employers paying the premiums, but the employees paying the tax.
Historically, corporate private medical insurance:
- Failed to support female health conditions
- Failed to support conditions commonly encountered by people of colour
- Hadn’t rewarded people who invest in their own wellbeing
- Hadn’t found a way to be more affordable and have less of a tax burden
Our own culture doesn’t align with this, so we created Lumina Health.
Lumina Health:
- Is a medical trust that we own, so we decide what is covered
- Is a trust, so costs like Insurance Premium Tax are reduced – reducing premiums
- Provides all businesses in the trust with wellbeing tools to drive down their risk and claims
Lumina. Employee benefits as a force for good.
