Build our cover around your business
Your business is different from the rest. It makes sense to choose healthcare cover that is too. Here’s how you start to shape your plan:
Step one
Choose the cover options that are right for your business.
Step two
Decide who to cover and how you’d like to handle existing conditions.
Step three
Only pay for the cover you want.*
*If you are buying cover for 1-2 people only, you will need to include either the Treatment Option or the Diagnostics Only Option in your plan. For more information about our cover, any cover limitations and what we don't cover please see our product brochure.
Cover for hospital procedures and operations, including surgery, plus radiotherapy and chemotherapy for cancer when you include Comprehensive Cancer Cover.
Waiting for a diagnosis can be a worrying time. This option makes sure you or your employees can see a specialist quickly if you become unwell.
Help your employees look after their teeth and eyesight with cashback towards dentists’ fees, glasses, contact lenses and eye tests.
Cover when you're referred to an osteopath, physiotherapist, acupuncturist, or chiropractor.
Ensures employees with a GP referral are seen quickly by a specialist at a time and place suitable for them.
Look after more than just your employees’ physical health with cover for mental health treatment.
Makes it easy for you and your employees to see a private GP in person, promptly, at a time that’s convenient.
Provides even greater flexibility and choice over where your people are treated. Plus, extra cover for planned, pre-approved treatment abroad and cover for the routine management of specified chronic conditions such as asthma.
If they’re going through difficult times, such as divorce or money problems, this option gives your people a professionally trained expert to talk to; on the phone, or in person, depending on the chosen programme.
Whether travelling for business or pleasure, cover your people for emergency medical treatment. You will also have access to other travel-related benefits.
Cash back towards a health assessment which can provide guidance to help your employees make small changes to improve their health and wellbeing.
Help look after the health of your team via a contribution towards annual flu and travel vaccinations.
Every cover option includes these benefits as standard
- 24/7 access to a private GP
Access to phone and video appointments with a GP or Advanced Clinical Practitioner via our AXA Doctor at Hand service, powered by Doctor Care Anywhere. Appointments subject to availability. Advanced Clinical Practitioners available 8am-10pm. - Muscles, bones and joints support
Get to the bottom of aches and pains with no need for a GP referral. Speak to the right expert over the phone or online. Our muscles, bones and joints service is available for members aged 18 and over. - Cancer and heart care
Telephone support from our experienced healthcare practioners, through the uncertainty of serious illness. - Health information phone line
24/7 health support through our health information phone line. - Access to wellbeing incentives
Alongside your plan, you'll have access to up to 40% off monthly gym memberships for you and all your employees. Find out more and get full terms and conditions.
Get your Business Health insurance brochure
Our brochure tells you everything you need to know about the benefits of health insurance plans for small businesses.
Take the complication out of covering existing conditions
Underwriting allows you to decide how you'll cover team members for any conditions they might have before joining us. The underwriting option that you choose can affect the cost of your healthcare cover. The underwriting options available are:
- Fully underwritten - This means that any pre-existing medical conditions that you or your team might have aren't covered. This option requires you and your employees to declare your medical history when you join.
- Two-year moratorium - Any pre-existing medical conditions may be covered after two years continuous cover, provided you've been completely trouble free from advice, treatment or a special diet for at least a continuous year after joining.
A pre-existing condition is any disease, injury or illness that you have received medication, advice or treatment for, or have experienced symptoms of, in the five years before the start of cover. - Continued medical exclusions - If you're joining us from another private health insurance provider, you could continue any underwriting arrangements that you had with your previous provider across to your new plan. The rules and benefits of your new plan with AXA Health will apply.
- Medical history disregarded - This underwriting option means that we could cover you and your team for pre-existing medical conditions, subject to your membership terms. This option is available if you're looking to cover 15 employees or more. With this option, we don't ask for medical history declarations from you and your team. Pre-existing conditions are accepted subject to the rules and benefits of the plan.
An example plan: Average of £34.81 per month, per employee^
To help get you started, here's an example package. It’ll give you a feel for
costs, what’s right for you and how easy it is to make your own plan.
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Outpatient |
^The above example is based on six employees (aged 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 & 50), living in Guildford, with a £100 excess and a two year moratorium on pre-existing conditions. Treatment with Comprehensive Cancer Cover, Therapies and Standard Out-patient options included. Costs are representative as of October 2024, and prices will vary depending on location, cover options and ages. The total cost of the plan per month is £208.84 which is equivalent to £34.81 per employee.
The benefits of business health insurance
- Employee retention. Including small business health insurance in your employee benefits package can be a great way to retain your top team members. The Association of British Insurers commissioned a survey of 2,005 people in 2023 and found 57% saw health insurance as a key part of an employee benefits package.1
- Recruitment incentive. Small business health insurance can also be a great incentive to help attract new team members to your business. The Financial Times (2023) argue that it can help you persuade top-level new recruits to commit to your business.2
- Flexible medical appointments. Small business health insurance also comes with the added benefit that medical appointments can often be at a time and place that works for you, so you can minimise the impact that they have on your day
- Workplace wellbeing. Small business health insurance can also be beneficial to overall workplace wellbeing as our 24/7 health support line provides your team with access to health information when they need it. So you can rest assured that should a member of your team have a question about their health, our health practitioners are at the end of the phone to support them
- Productivity. Employee wellbeing can, in turn, have a number of benefits for a business including improved productivity. In a study by the Association of British Insurers, they found that 22% of the SMEs asked rated having health and wellbeing benefits as critical for productivity.3
Sources and references
1ABI, 2023
2The Financial Times, 2023
3ABI, 2021
What’s not covered?
As with most private healthcare plans, there are some general exclusions and limitations. Here are some of the most significant things that your plan won't cover:
- Routine pregnancy and childbirth.
- Out-patient drugs and dressings.
- Treatment of ongoing, recurrent and long-term conditions (chronic conditions).
- Cosmetic treatment.
- Treatment needed as a result of training for or taking part in any sport for which you are paid, receive a grant or sponsorship (not counting travel costs) or are competing for prize money.
- Treatment of medical conditions you had, or had symptoms of, before you joined. Depending on the underwriting option you choose.
- Fees if you choose to use a hospital that is not in our Directory of Hospitals.
This information is just a summary of some of the cover we offer and the key exclusions. For more information about our cover, any cover limitations and what we don't cover please see our product brochure.
What do I need to get a small business health insurance quote?
Get an indicative online quote for business health insurance in minutes.
Here’s some information you’ll need:
- Details such as your name, email address and business postcode
Business health insurance FAQs
Our small business guide to health insurance covers lots more FAQs, you can read it here.
How does health insurance impact tax?
When providing private health insurance as an employee benefit to your team, it is considered to be a benefit in kind. Your employees will therefore need to pay tax on the benefit amount.
At the end of each tax year, employers have to complete a P11D form for every employee who has received expenses or benefits in addition to their salary (this doesn’t include routine business expenses and benefits like travel and company car fuel).
Read our blog post to find out more about how private medical insurance impacts tax
How much does business health insurance cost?
At AXA Health, we think that the best way for you to get the healthcare cover that’s right for your business and your budget is to let you build your plan yourself. That’s why we offer a range of healthcare cover options, so you only pay for the cover you need^.
As well as tailoring your cover and choosing only the options you need, we also have a number of cost saving options available so you can look after your people whilst still keeping an eye on your bottom line.
Find out more about our cost saving options.
^If you’re buying healthcare cover for 1-2 people only, you will need to include either the Treatment option or Diagnostics Only option in your plan.
What are chronic conditions?
Small business health insurance, in most cases, covers the cost of private treatment for new acute conditions that develop after your plan has started (depending on the details of your plan). Chronic conditions generally aren’t covered on most small business health insurance plans.
A chronic condition is a disease, illness or injury that has one or more of the following characteristics:
- It needs ongoing or long-term monitoring through consultations, examinations, check-ups and/or tests
- It needs ongoing or long-term control or relief of symptoms
- It requires your rehabilitation or for you to be specially trained to cope with it
- It continues indefinitely
- It has no known cure
- It comes back or is likely to come back
What is a pre-existing condition?
A pre-existing medical condition is any disease, illness or injury that:
- You have received medication, advice or treatment for in the five years before the start of your cover, or
- You have experienced symptoms of in the five years before the start of your cover whether or not the condition was diagnosed.
The process of underwriting determines whether pre-existing medical conditions are covered on your plan. The underwriting option that you choose can affect the cost of your healthcare cover.
More information on the process of underwriting can be found in our Small Business Guide to Health Insurance.
Want to find out more?
If you still have questions, we've created our Small Business Guide to Health Insurance. The guide covers off a number of frequently asked questions, including:
- What underwriting options are available and what can’t I claim for?
- How does private health insurance impact tax?
- How does the claims process work?
Self-employed and looking for healthcare cover?
With our health insurance for the self-employed, you’ll have someone on your side helping you get diagnosed and treated quickly, so you can get back to running your business.
How does private healthcare cover affect your tax?
If you take out a business healthcare plan rather than a personal one, you could be eligible for tax relief. But don’t forget, when you offer private healthcare cover for employees as a benefit, it will have certain tax implications for you and your staff.
Find out more about the tax impliacations of providing health insurance as a benefit for your employees.
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We’re proud that our Business Health plan has been rated 5 stars by independent financial information business, Defaqto. The Defaqto 5-star rating is based on an assessment of the overall product including all options. If some of the options are not selected, this will affect the product’s star rating.
*Phone lines are open 8:30am-5:30pm Monday to Friday. We may record and/or monitor calls for quality assurance, training and as a record of our conversation.