Improving the health and efficiency of employees

Psychology Consultants www.psychologyconsultants.com and www.janusclinic.com offers a range of psychologically based solutions to companies to enable them to improve the health of their employees and in so doing enhance productivity.

We can help with as little as one session with one employee - for example :

In just one session, we can teach you how to control your Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Chaotic heart rate, usually caused by prolonged stress, can lead to serious health problems.

What’s in it for you?  – By controlling your HRV you can become less vulnerable to “the silent killer” (Coronary Heart Diseases), which in the UK kills one person every two minutes.

Why should you trust us? – Because if you do not show any progress, we will give you your money back!

How much?  One session = £150.     Your health = priceless.

For more information visit our clinical website www.janusclinic.com or call us on 07792 075748

Business Updates

Just wanted to give some quick updates.

At the moment I'm working all out in two main areas - as an independent medical insurance intermediary (authorised via Premier Choice Healthcare) i'm able to advise on all areas of medical insurance for individuals, families and corporates. This is for both brand new insurance and also if you have cover in place already I can probably save money at renewal as well as enhance benefits. If you would like a quote or assistance please call on 07792 075748 or e-mail philknight@pch.uk.com

I also co-own a business working with senior clinicians called Medico Legal Marketing (www.medicolegalmarketing.co.uk) - you can find out all about this service which is unique in its market at the website or call me on the number above.

Lastly I'm working as a marketing consultant with an eminent psychologist who is launching a new practice in the Uk call Psychology Consultants - aimed at improving workplace productivity for large corporates - again more at www.psychologyconsultants.com

You can find out all about me on Linkedin - my public profile is :

My main Twitter accounts are : @localventure1 and @philknightPCH

As my previous website (www.knighthealthcare.co.uk) is no more I will be using this Localventure blog as my main business blog moving forwards.

Yorkshire Bank problem

Haven't posted a proper business post here for a while but I'm having a problem with the Yorkshire Bank and thought a public airing might help both me and also others considering setting up an account (personal or business).

Essentially I accidentally went overdrawn when a cheque issued by the Halifax was paid into my YB current account on the 1st of July - although the cheque was against cleared funds in the Halifax account (what I still term a 'building society' cheque - the kind you can still go out and buy a car with !) and despite the fact that it appeared as cleared funds on their on-line system on the 5th my debit card was declined and when ringing their helpline confirmed the account was in debit and I'd incurred a £25 charge.

Of course I immediately paid in funds from my business account to cover the debit (the same evening) and then rang their helpline again in the morning to ask them to waive the charge on the basis that the cheque didn't need to 'clear', I've been a long term customer and that the account was only overdrawn for a matter of hours.

They were at this stage super unhelpful and apparently their charges are 'unreviewable'. Laughingly because of the FSA rules on 'treating customers fairly' - I really can't imagine that the intent of the law makers with the TCF rules was to justify charging customers more. LOL !!!

I've therefore written a standard 'snotty' letter to my branch manager (if indeed there is such a thing at the Yorkshire Bank in Yeadon, Leeds LS19 7SP) and asked them to think again - purpose of posting here is twofold - at the moment I wouldn't, couldn't suggest using the Yorkshire Bank - their attitude has been to adopt a one size fits all approach and not listen to their customer but also to point out that customer loyalty goes both ways - I've been with them over 31 years, have my business account with them and have used their services for a host of financial transactions in that time period - isn't it about time that the customer was right in banking as well as in every other industry - in 30 years they must have had their hands on upwards of £ 2,000,000 of my money (admittedly some of it not for very long!) how much interest have they earned on my money that over that time period. Surely my business and goodwill is worth far more than £ 25 to them one would have thought ?

Two thoughts to finish - on average someone with a bad experience of a business tells 10 people about the problem, compared to one or two people if the service was good. On a good month I get over 1,000 hits on this blog - so a couple more than ten people informed then.

Also, I think Halifax are offering a welcome payment of £50 for new current accounts - that looks pretty good right about now !

I will of course update if there is any news.

P.

New Network for Localventure

As part of a network building exercise I am doing for Knight Healthcare and now Medico Legal Marketing I'm now trying to formally introduce business to some colleagues of mine.

If you have any requirements for the following services I can now recommend reliable professionals to all Localventure members and readers :

Private Medical Insurance - family or group cover
Computer and IT Sales
Accountants
Building Services (West Yorkshire only)
Website design and eMarketing
Independent Financial Advisor
Mobile Phone Sales
Alarm/Security Services (West Yorkshire only)
Mortgage Broker
Commercial Insurance Broker

If you'd like to be referred or indeed have your details passed to one of these companies in the hope that they might be interested in your services please let me know.

Call for more information on : 07792 075748 or e-mail phil@knighthealthcare.co.uk

Medico Legal Marketing

A few weeks ago an old business colleague asked me to help him out with a business project that he feels he doesn't have the time or interest to devote to at the moment.

This business : Medico Legal Marketing supports medical consultants/specialists, helping them access lucrative medico legal contracts in trials, tribunal/legal work, insurance and corporates. For a one off fee we enable doctors to take up these commissions in a risk free way.

In addition we can also help medical reporting organisations access our registered medical specialists for one off or specialised contracts.

Full details of how we work are at our website via the above link.

If you are a doctor (GP, consultant, surgeon etc) interested in medico legal work or medical reporting organisation please feel free to get in touch.

Contact me on 07792 075748 for more information.

New blog at www.knighthealthcare.co.uk

If like most people who have private medical insurance you dread the renewal documents arriving through the door once a year I've put together some brief information over at my companies blog

There you'll find lots of reasons why you should do something, rather than nothing and also how a good medical insurance broker can help out.

For more info e-mail me at phil@knighthealthcare.co.uk or call on 07792 075748

Is it time to update and review your private medical insurance ?

When I tell people the fact that I am about to revealm most of them do a kind of intellectual double take and exclaim, genuinely .... “Surely Not !”

This fact is probavly one of the least understood by the public about the financial services industry.  

Here’s the fact :

INSURANCE COMPANIES TRANSACT BUSINESS, WRITE POLICIES ON THEIR CUSTOMERS LIFE TO MAKE A PROFIT

Now that this staggering piece of information is out there in the public domain I would like to examine it a little bit more. 

Let’s start by getting one thing clear, a lot of the time I don’t like insurance companies too much. As an independent healthcare specialist intermediary I have the luxury of choosing which of the insurers is the best for my clients and then I have the problem that a lot of the time they go out of their way to make my life and therefore that of my clients as difficult as possible. Not on purpose I’m sure but the very fact of their bureaucratic ways, underwriting rules and product foibles can make my life infuriating. This blog post however is not going to be a rant about insurers. Far from it. I am going to actually try and explain why they do certain and things and how it gives us the opportunity to help you, the customer get a better deal.

So if I may I would like to return to my central thesis - insurers need to make money. 

I know some people resent this (and given poor advice to customers in the past and multiple mis-selling scandals within the insurance sector I think this feeling is toally understandable) and feel that insurers should pay for everything regardless of whether it is covered or pre-existing or excluded or eligible (pick your favourite technical exclusion term from the list). But in the end just like your corner shop or Tesco or Barclays Bank or that bit of selling you do on Amazon to top up your salary the insurance companies need to take in more money than they subsequently spend on paying out claims and administration/overheads. In other words like all capitalist organisations it is a simple enough equation they need to work towards - make more money than they spend.

I think because the insurers products are complicated and non-physical (the customer just receives a policy schedule rather than when they visit the Apple shop and buy an Ipad2 where they get their brand new shiny physical piece of kit) that the feel is insurance policies are somehow less valuable than other similarly costed purchases.

So I would contend that if we deem the insurers products to be of value - which surely we must because otherwise no one would ever buy them - then by inference the insurer is allowed to make a profit to remain in business and sell more of the shiny pieces of kit to more people. 

However, moving beyond that simple point I do have a gripe and here it is : why do people buy a life or health insurance policy and then never review it again ?

To illustrate, I bought an Ipad when they first became available in February 2010 and now in April 2011 we have the new Ipad2 - I don’t need one (I really want one but that is a different issue!) but I’ve looked at the specs of the new Ipad and compared it to my current one and decided that the first iteration is fine for me for at least the next 12 months - so decision made I will wait for Ipad 3 in 2012 and review again.

We do this ‘update and review’ exercise with a range of products and services where we regularly compare current spend and service capability with our current supplier versus their competition : supermarkets, phone bills, broad suppliers, utilities, computers, cars, schools, mobile phones but we tend not to do it so much with financial products like your private medical insurance.

Imagine the scenario. You obtain quote from a medical insurer via the internet, a newspaper ad or perhaps invite a direct sales person to visit you at home. Whatever the route you buy a sparkling health insurance plan which enables you to claim away to your hearts content for say, £ 50 a month. Over time this premium will increase with medical inflation (running often three or four percent above the Retail Prices Index - 10% in the early noughties was not uncommon), how many claims you make and their value and of course prices also increase based on your age. The net result is that within five years you’ll be paying often double or more than your original premium.

It is also worth bearing in mind that just like my shiny new Ipad a year ago, medical insurance policies get old, their CPU doesn’t work quite as well and that flashy app that five years ago was the best out-patient benefit money could buy, frankly now has very little Vitality left at all (sorry, that is a medical insurance industry in-joke). 

I know I may have rambled on a little, but I’m getting to the point now - insurers like to make money - this is not a bad thing, but ..... sometimes they make money on the back of people buying an individual policy and then never reviewing it and paying far more than they need to because of a sense of inertia that doesn’t necessarily exist with other products and services as discussed above. 

When I speak to clients in their 40’s and 50’s (and often much older clients as well) who have relatively low levels of historic claims I usually find that they are paying between 35% and 70% (seriously) more than they need to. So the message I would like to put across today is that regardless of how shiny, clever or BUPA’y (sometimes people won’t switch away from BUPA because it’s BUPA - it must be the best ?) your current plan is, so long as there are no major recent health problems we can almost certainly look at transferring you across to a new insurer with no or limited extra underwriting. All you need to do is ask and we might be able to save you 70% of your premiums !!!!!

For more information contact me at :

info@knighthealthcare.co.uk

07792 075748 or 0113 3474395

www.knighthealthcare.co.uk

When did you last review your private medical insurance

According to 2010 stats around 1 in 10 of us has private medical insurance. Many of those people are covered on company paid schemes with the likes of BUPA, AXA PPP, Aviva, Simply Health, PruHealth and so on.

In addition many consumers have grown tired of the restrictions imposed by the national health service and have decided to pay out for their own individual cover to protect both themselves and their families.

However, medical insurance is a competitive business for the product providers who regularly review their product benefits and importantly change their pricing structure often two or three times a year.

As a consequence, it doesn't matter whether you bought your cover as a company or an individual - if you have private medical insurance and it hasn't been reviewed in the last two years you need to talk to someone about whether your cover is up to date and if you are paying too much.

If you're interested in looking at this we can help you FOR FREE !

Get in touch at : Contact Knight Healthcare or e-mail on info@knighthealthcare

Update on Knight Healthcare

Many of the people who have visited this blog fairly regularly over the last couple of years will be aware that I recently set up my own business - Knight Healthcare.

You can find more about the business at www.knighthealthcare.co.uk, on Twitter @knighthealth and also on : my facebook page
Fundamentally having worked in the private medical insurance market since 1994 I think that there are some gaps in provision out there from both brokers and insurers and I am aiming to fill them. Most of my ideas are built around going the extra mile for clients, supporting healthcare for families and also enabling other professional advisors to offer private medical insurance to their clients in a coherent and profitable way.

So if you're an individual wanting cover for yourself and your loved ones, a company director wanting to look after your employees or an IFA or accountant who would like support in offering private medical insurance to your clients please feel free to get in touch at : info@knighthealthcare.co.uk

Phil Knight
March 2011

Switching your Private Medical Insurance

Just because you have private medical insurance (PMI) in place for yourself or your family that isn't necessarily the end of the story. Like anything you buy, the shiny new policy, once 'driven off the forecourt' can begin to depreciate. What I mean is that over time the medical insurance market changes and a plan, once totally adequate for your current needs becomes outdated as the requirements of the policy holders change, benefits are improved or altered and of course prices from insurers go up and down (mainly up unfortunately !).

With this in mind a plan that you bought three or four years ago may not still be up to snuff. The good news is that Knight Healthcare are able to offer a full independent review service where we look at every aspect of your medical insurance cover - the benefits, excess level, hospital list, bolt on options, claims support, service level, pricing and stability of insurer. 

This review is of course free and may not result in a requirement to change insurers - often we recommend staying where you are (particularly if you have recent claims) or amending benefits with your current provider. As an alternative we are sometimes able to offer a switch to a new insurer at renewal that might save you money, offer you better benefits or often both.

Whatever your situation please feel free to get in touch to discuss how we can help you ensure you have the very best PMI in place for the most important people in your life.  

For more information please check out the website at www.knighthealthcare.co.uk, call on 07792 075748 or check out the Twitter Feed @knighthealth

Knight Healthcare - new member for Localventure

Knight Healthcare is a fully authorised, independent health insurance and protection intermediary based in the North of England.

We specialise in client focused advice built around service and support when you, your family and your employees need it most. We work for both individual and company clients and can offer the following products :

Private Medical Insurance
Hospital Cash Plans
Optical and Dental cover
Travel Insurance
Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
Sickness Absence Planning
Advice on nursery Voucher schemes for companies
Health Screening
Life Assurance and Critical Illness Cover
Group Risk Products including group life, income protection and key man cover.

Working with all the major health insurers we're able to offer the best products at a price that takes into account both what you need as a consumer but also affordability in the current economic climate.

The service we provide is free and we are able to recommend both new cover and also review any existing plans you may already have in place.

You can get in touch using one of the following :

Mobile : 07792 075 748
E-mail : phil@knighthealthcare.co.uk
Website : www.knighthealthcare.co.uk
Twitter @knighthealth
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001865247953
Linkedin : http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/philip-knight/1a/b47/58b