Allianz Partners has unveiled its Summit international private medical insurance health plan for SMEs as part of a raft of enhancements to its suite of health plans.
The insurer is also adding moratorium underwriting and introducing access to the Wysa mental health app.
The Summit plan – designed and sold through the company’s international health brand Allianz Care – aims to offer SMEs with up to 100 employees increased flexibility for their employee health insurance benefits.
The product was developed following Allianz Partners’ preferred partnership agreement with Aetna International earlier this year and is modelled on Aetna’s popular Summit product, with a number of enhancements.
It has launched in English initially, with other languages to follow early next year, and locally compliant plans are available to SMEs across countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The modular structure and pre-set options aim to offer flexibility, allowing clients to tailor a health plan to the needs of their employees, the insurer said.
Members can access support services, including a 24/7 multilingual helpline, a network of more than one million medical providers globally, and a range of digital health and wellness tools.
Moratorium underwriting
The insurer has also added moratorium underwriting aimed at offering faster onboarding when purchasing health insurance for individuals and SMEs.
It is available to individuals and small groups with between three and nine members, but it is dependent on geographical location and local country regulations.
This is in addition to traditional full medical underwriting (FMU) terms where customers provide their full medical history and based on an assessment there may be surcharges applied to their cover.
Allianz said FMU was particularly beneficial for those with existing medical conditions – adding moratorium underwriting is a generally faster process as there are no medical forms to complete.
“Moratorium also takes the recurrence of an illness into account, allowing for more flexibility in the application,” Allianz said.
“It offers the reassurance that as long as the person is symptom-free and has not needed any treatment or medical advice for a pre-existing condition for two consecutive years, cover will begin in the third year of their policy.
“This is expected to be a popular option among SMEs, as the onboarding of employees is much faster,” it added.
Wysa app access
Finally, all Allianz Partners health insurance customers can now access the Wysa app for immediate, confidential and high-quality mental health support, at no additional cost.
This is a new support service, following the preferred partnership deal with Aetna International earlier this year.
The app acts as a chat buddy and human coaching service and is currently used by four million users globally and provides immediate, confidential mental health support. Its aim is to provide early support and intervention for those not yet ready to talk by phone or meet a specialist, Allianz said.
“Additionally, users will have access to a professionally trained human coach to support them via in-app, text-based chat sessions. If additional support is needed, this will be provided through a 12-week coaching program with a dedicated coach,” it added.
Paula Covey, chief marketing officer for health at Allianz Partners, (pictured) said the Summit product and the provision of the Wysa app were both testament to the success of the preferred partnership agreement with Aetna International.
“Allianz Summit offers increased flexibility for SMEs and enables them to manage costs more efficiently as different options can be selected for different groups of employee,” she said.
“The Wysa app is a multi-award-winning solution, and its availability to all customers at no additional cost highlights the importance that we as a company attach to mental fitness and wellbeing.
“Meanwhile, the new moratorium underwriting health insurance option we’re providing allows for greater flexibility and a faster onboarding process when buying health insurance.”