Over the years, many people have grown disillusioned with the spiralling costs associated with private medical insurance (PMI), it is largely because of this the self-pay (non-insured) market is growing by 30% + each year, however, despite the best intensions, many of us are not disciplined enough to ensure we put the money away, and equally rely on the support and assistance their insurance company provides at the point of claim.

This is where the Healthcare Deposit Account can help as it sits between both insurance and self-pay, providing the flexibility and financial advantages of self-pay and the reassurance of insurance at the same time.

Quite simply, you pay a set contribution which suits your budget, half of this is used to provide valuable health insurance and the other half is held in an interest bearing savings account, in your name and always accessible by you (with no penalty).

While you are paying in your regular contributions, your personal ‘fund’ is growing and eventually this will be used to pay an element of any eligible claims should they be required.

At the point of needing to claim, you would go about it the same way as if through an insurance company, however there are less hurdles and restrictions to worry about such as which Hospital, Consultant and even Scanning centre you can use. When the claim is required to be paid, the majority of the claim is paid by the National Deposit Friendly Society (up to your specified levels) and the remaining balance (often 10%) is paid directly from your savings account. It works in a similar way to an excess or shared risk which is common today on Medical Insurance contracts.

The key advantages to the plan are that you are able to access a generous array of medical and healthcare benefits when you need them, and if you do not, your premium paid is not lost forever.

When you choose how much you can comfortably afford, that premium level has a limit on the medical benefit cover you can access, as well as the NHS Hospital stay benefit and Optical & Dental benefit. Please refer to the table below for details.  

Fixed monthly
Contribution    ~  Your level of cover each year  ~
            NHS Hospital Benefit   Medical Benefit    Optical & Dental
£ 20    £200  = £20  a night    £10,000 a year      £  300
£ 30    £300  = £30  a night    £15,000 a year      £  450
£ 40    £400  = £40  a night    £20,000 a year      £  600
£ 50    £500  = £50  a night    £25,000 a year      £  750
£ 60    £600  = £60  a night    £30,000 a year      £  900
£ 70    £700  = £70  a night    £35,000 a year      £1,050
£ 80    £800  = £80  a night    £40,000 a year      £1,200
£ 90    £900  = £90  a night    £45,000 a year      £1,350
£ 100  £1000 = £100 a night   £50,000 a year      £1,500

The plan is open to any UK citizens aged between 16 and 66. Your age does dictate to a degree how much benefit you can use as well as how much you would pay toward a claim. Anyone aged 50+ is required to select a premium of £50 and upwards for a single person. This also has some bearing on the percentage you would contribute from your Deposit Savings Account as shown in the table below:
 

We recommend that each applicant takes out their own cover as this is often more beneficial than taking cover as a couple or family.

What benefits are covered on the plan ?
The benefits available on the plan are largely without limitation; however, as explained earlier, there would be an overall limit to what you could claim for in one year.
 
What if I need a large claim early into the policy?
These has been considered and as a response you can elect to take an additional ‘Early Years Benefit’, which for £5 per month, provides you with £20,000 of additional benefit should you require it. The idea is that after 5 years, you will have accumulated a reasonable fund of your own to use for future claims. Additionally, you can elect to pay additional benefit into your savings plan on a regular basis or even adhoc should you feel the need.

This is one of the core advantages of this plan. Most other insurance companies are imposing increases of approximately 10% each year as well as age related increases, this can mean your premium soon exceeds your budget and often forces people to reconsider their cover.

The National Deposit Healthcare Account will not increase due to age, claims or inflation. However, we recommend considering your contribution levels every few years to ensure it still meets healthcare costs – this can be done by increasing one band each policy year if required.

As with all Medical Insurance, your medical history is taken into account. Like most providers, National Deposit gives you the option of two types of underwriting; Moratorium and Full Medical Disclosure. Ask your adviser or refer to the policy wording for details.

You pay £5 per month which entitles you to an extra £20,000 worth of medical benefits in the first 5 years of your policy. This can be used should you use up your medical benefit however; this money does not materially go into your account. It cannot be used to pay your share of the claims.

Your monthly premium entitles you to the corresponding amount of Medical Benefit, NHS Cash Benefit plus Dental & Optical benefits. 50% of your monthly premium will also go into your Deposit Account, primarily to help you pay your share of your claims and to build up your Account balance. However, this is not mandatory and you can withdraw this money at any time.

If you choose to make an additional monthly payment surplus to your monthly premium, this additional payment will go straight into you Deposit Account and remain the same amount. It does not entitle you to any extra medical benefits. It’s purpose is to build up your account levels for your share of the claims.

Each age banding has a different share of the claim/s they have to pay. National Deposit will always pay for the majority of the claim but you will need to pay your designated share. The money for your share of the claim can come from the Deposit Account or alternative means. For full details on what sources you can use please refer to the enclosed Claiming Process Fact Sheet and policy wording.

This benefit means that you can claim for routine dental and optical, it is therefore limited to those everyday needs and does not provide cover for hospital treatment.

If you wish to include your children on your policy this is subject to a couple of requirements. These are that your children must be under 18 and that no adult on the policy is over 49 years of age. If you are over 49 years of age then as long as you take out a policy with National Deposit they will allow your child/ren to have a standalone policy.

You will be pleased to know that there is NO Hospital Network, for this reason you can choose where you receive your treatment with no restrictions. In addition, due to this National Deposit do not provide a direct referral service like some of the more traditional insurers. A direct referral service is where the insurer dictates where and who you will see for treatment, this is not always in the patients’ best interest and money often plays huge part in the insurers’ decision.

If you pass away and you have a dependent on your policy then they can take over as the policy holder. If you have an individual policy then your spouse or closest relative will have the authority to access the account, provided that they can produce sufficient identification.