Employee benefits: MET the alternative to PMI
Employee healthcare is an invaluable employee benefit, protecting the wellbeing of staff and helping companies to attract and retain the best talent. In the last 18 months, the emphasis on health and wellbeing has increased, and yet the financial pressures on businesses are making some employers re-evaluate offering private medical insurance (PMI). Businesses do have an alternative however, and one that offers greater cost control and more adaptable medical cover: Multi Employer Trusts (MET).
What is a Multi Employer Trust (MET)?
Healthcare trusts are an HMRC-approved alternative to PMI. Rather than paying premiums to an insurer, the money is paid into a tax-efficient fund that is then used to help meet claims as and when they arise. At the end of the year, any remaining fund balance can be rolled over to the next year to help meet claims spend in the future, rather than being retained as profit by an insurer, potentially making them much more cost-efficient for the employer.
While these Trusts are normally only available to large corporate entities, a Multi-Employer Healthcare Trust (MET) allows SMEs to come together and set up one fund between them all, bringing their collective spend up and hopefully individual prices down. This means it is a great alternative way for these businesses to access the same benefits.
A healthcare trust also offers tangible benefits to employees. The types of issues that can be covered by a trust are much wider ranging than PMI and are therefore more inclusive in nature across age, gender and ethnicity. For example;
- medical advice on female health and long-term issues, such as;
- fertility,
- menopause,
- endometriosis
- and long-Covid, or counselling can also be included, which wouldn’t typically be part of a PMI package.
What is Amba’s offering?
Amba have recently partnered with Healix, the UK’s leading independent healthcare trust provider, to create an effective multi-employer trust for its clients. Facilitated by Healix Health Services, Amba’s multi-employer trust offering, Lumina Health, is offered as a service exclusively to Amba’s clients. Members access these services via their account on the Lumina® platform, where they can also find their employee benefits platform, HR platform, and much more.
Through this new partnership, clients will have access to Healix’s clinical expertise while benefiting from Amba’s exclusive insights and ESG employee benefits technology. It will also drive proactive employee engagement with health and wellbeing benefits by introducing positive features such as wearable devices and wellbeing activities for employees.
How do I join?
There are options to be a part of Lumina Health when you choose Amba to manage your employee benefits. You can choose to launch it to your employees as a standalone benefit; bring it together with the rest of your employee benefits on our flexible benefits platform, Lumina Flex; or host it alongside other workplace technology on our platform, Lumina.
There has been a marked shift in people’s priorities over the last 18 months, with health and wellbeing coming to the forefront of everyone’s attention. As such, employee benefits, particularly those centred around wellbeing, are now critical if employers are going to demonstrate that they understand their staff and can cater for their needs. Paying lip service to wellbeing is no longer enough.
To find out more about Lumina Health, get in contact.
