If you have medical insurance through your work and you switch companies or retire, you are sometimes given a ‘group leaver option’, enabling you to continue with the cover even without your work.
But according to the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII) this practice often takes advantage of employees and they end up being charged far more than need be.
“For those wanting to continue with medical insurance, they should most definitely use this opportunity to shop around,” said Debbie Kleiner-Gaines from AMII.
“Although cover for pre-existing conditions should always be a major consideration, that aside they may find a better deal elsewhere both in terms of cost and overall cover.”
For example, in one instance the group leaver option quote was £320 per month for a man aged 40 with a family moving from his engineering job in the Midlands to a new job in the same area, whereas shopping around he could get the same cover for £146 per month.
And a man taking retirement at aged 60 could get similar cover for £228 per month whereas his group leaver option quote was £280 per month.
Kleiner-Gaines continued that sometimes it is “worth considering taking the Group Leaver Option when you are in the middle of a claim and need continuation of cover but don’t forget that when that treatment is over, you can look at switching but with an intermediary holding your hand,”
“Apathy means too often people accept what they are offered by their existing provider without shopping around.
“With medical insurance, it is always worth checking with a local specialist intermediary to see if the best deal and most importantly appropriate cover have been offered.
“If they then find they already have the best option they’ve lost nothing but gained important peace of mind.”
