Did you know that if you work for yourself you can benefit from discounted health insurance? We’ve teamed up with one of our partners to tell the UK’s self-employed about the savings to be made and to highlight the risk to the economy of failing to protect your most valuable asset - yourself!
ActiveQuote.com is raising awareness of a 20% saving on private medical insurance (PMI) available to sole traders and company directors, now widely cited as a core contributor to the UK economy. Not-for-profit organisation Western Provident Association (WPA) offers the discounted healthcare scheme as standard to self-employed workers - including franchisees and partners within partnerships - to protect themselves against the potential threat serious illness or injury can pose to their business.
With many facing increasingly challenging conditions professionally, there’s more need than ever for the nation’s self-employed army to have the right insurances, such as PMI, income protection and critical illness cover, in place. Health insurance team leader Mark Todd said: “With self-employment now widely attributed as a cornerstone of today’s economy, industry insiders are working to provide freelancers and other self-employed workers with access to affordable - and increasingly vital - personal protection policies.
“The WPA has always been an advocate for supporting self-employed workers and, as a non-profit organisation, it’s been helping people with access to healthcare for over 100 years. There are so many freelancers and self-employed workers here in the UK, and for them to be given easier access to something as beneficial as healthcare is really invaluable.”
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of self-employed people in the UK jumped from 3.3m in 2001 to 4.8m in 2016 and accounts for more than 15% of the working population. Yet more than nine out of 10 - a massive 93% - have no critical illness cover, whilst 70% don’t have life insurance, according to a Scottish Widows survey that found the average cost of long-term sickness to a self-employed worker would be £67,550 each per year - a staggering financial risk to the economy of more than £300bn annually.
Mark added: “Bearing these statistics in mind, we believe the need for sole traders to safeguard their livelihoods against the complications ill health can bring has never been greater. Personal healthcare cover is much more accessible than it ever has been before and we would urge anyone who may be reliant on a self-generated wage to look at the support involved and make sure they’re covered sooner rather than later.”
Our healthcare policies are tailored to our customers’ budgets and lifestyles, and often include a range of health benefits that you probably don’t expect! Compare health insurance quotes online or call our experienced team on 0800 862 0373.
