Vitality has introduced a more detailed bi-annual value statement showing health and life members the value they receive in monetary terms through savings, rewards and benefits from their plan.
The statement will continue to be sent to health and life members who have earnt value from at least one partner, six months into the plan year, and again in the run up to their policy renewal.
The value statement
The statement includes a more detailed breakdown of the members’ use of Everyday Care benefits embedded in their Vitality policy, and the value they have received.
Everyday care services refers to Vitality GP, talking therapies, physiotherapy, optical, dental and hearing cover benefits.
The benefits breakdown covers:
- Vitality GP appointments. This service is available to health members only
- Health checks
- Physiotherapy sessions
- Mental health sessions
- Optical, dental and hearing cover
- Partners and rewards
Personal Health Fund
Business and corporate health members who have a Personal Health Fund will also be able to see how much they have used from it on their statement.
The Personal Health Fund is a pot of money available to members which they can use to pay for everyday healthcare expenses not usually covered by private medical insurance.
The amount paid into a member’s Personal Health Fund each year depends on their Vitality status, up to a maximum of £225 per plan year.
Members can have maximum of £1,000 in their Personal Health Fund at any time.
Monetary value
As well as information on how they have used their plan over the previous six months and year, members who have redeemed value with a Vitality reward partner, such as Caffè Nero, Apple Watch, Expedia, Waitrose, and others, will be able to see the monetary value they have also saved through each reward partner.
More detailed statements
Elaborating on the change, Vitality told Health & Protection that its previous statement was more basic and only included value received from up to five key partners such as cinema vouchers and Caffe Nero.
The new statement includes all but one of the insurer’s partners and details clinical value such as Vitality GP, Health Checks and physio, as well as personal data such as steps, status and active days.
Always the intention to provide more detail
Vitality said that their intention was always to provide more detail about the value members are getting and said they expect advisers would welcome this development.
“Our shared value model means that when members engage with their policy and the Vitality Programme, they benefit from better health in addition to the rewards and benefits, and we as an insurer benefit as our member base is healthier and less likely to need to claim and less likely to cancel their policy,” Vitality said.
“This has always been a desire to show our members what value they are getting from their plan – not just money in their pocket but more holistic, but as you can imagine the technology and work required to do this has been a couple of years in the making.
“So while not prompted by advisers, we can imagine they’ll be pleased by this new development.”
Helping members see the value
Lara Fascione, retention and adviser operations director at Vitality, said: “Providing ongoing value to our members and helping them live healthier lives, has been embedded in our insurance products since we first launched.
“From day one, we’ve looked to change people’s relationship with their insurance through our shared-value approach – encouraging them to not just see their insurance as something to file in a drawer and forget about until the point of claim.
“Our new statement further demonstrates our shared-value approach to insurance and the significant day-to-day benefits provided by our Everyday Care services such as Vitality GP appointments and physiotherapy sessions.
“Through these new personalised statements and our suite of personalised recommendations on the Vitality app, we are now able to highlight to our members how they are using their policy, the value in the form of rewards they are getting, and also show them the rewards that are there for them to use and benefit from.”