Press release: Employers could recoup £2.78 for every £1 spent on Equipsme health insurance: research

Press release: Employers could recoup £2.78 for every £1 spent on Equipsme health insurance: research

Employers investing in health insurance plans from Equipsme stand to reap a £2.78 return on investment (ROI) – meaning they can expect to get more than double their investment back.

The figure has been calculated in research from wellbeing data and analytics experts Fruitful Insights, in a joint white paper published today.

It’s the first time a figure has been put on health insurance ROI, using data including sickness absence rates and reasons, NHS and private waiting times in each area, and job levels and functions.

Equipsme plans are designed to be the middle ground between cash plans and traditional private medical insurance, creating a cost-effective health benefit that can work for entire workforces, including those who’ve never had health insurance before. Equipsme’s fixed, transparent prices - the same for new and renewing customers – are what have made the ROI modelling and maths possible.

The £2.78 figure is based on an employee with an average salary of £36,000 with Equipsme’s diagnosis plan, and the benefits of reduced sickness absence and swifter return to work after illness or injury.

Fruitful Insights can also give individual businesses tailored information about the return on investment they can expect from Equipsme’s health insurance plans.

Matthew Reed, Managing Director of Equipsme, says: “The cost of living crisis has not gone away, nor has the pressure on the NHS and businesses are now trying to find extra National Insurance costs to boot. All of which makes the growing demand for health benefits even more challenging for businesses. While at Equipsme we’ve seen the number of lives on cover continue to increase year-on-year, we know what a huge step that is for organisations to take.

“The one thing businesses ask us for again and again is an ROI – what will we actually get back if we invest in employee health? Throw away statements about better engagement and employees feeling good are a waste of time in the eyes of decision makers. HRs must prove to their boards, stakeholders and investors – in pounds and pence - why precious budget should be spent on health benefits.

“With Fruitful Insights, we’ve managed to get them an answer. Our extremely conservative calculation crunches all the numbers and shows that companies could get more than double their money back on an Equipsme plan. For many of the organisations we’re working with it’s the thing that’s finally moved the needle on their benefits.”

Fruitful Insights uses data and evidence-based surveys to measure wellbeing performance in businesses. It can analyse how impaired wellbeing is impacting employees and the businesses they work for, and its broader platform can benchmark wellbeing maturity and pinpoint other areas for focus and investment.

Fruitful Insights co-founder Mike Tyler comments: “We’re pleased to be able to help Equipsme on its mission to broaden health insurance beyond the upper echelons of senior management by equipping HR teams with a more hard and fast business case for wellbeing.  All the evidence indicates that happy and healthy employees make for better, more productive businesses, and that providing health insurance that speeds quicker access and interventions can have a measurable impact on productivity.

“Through this partnership we can also go a step further and actually personalise return on investment calculations to each individual business. That means a more tailored case for health benefits centred around happy, engaged staff who are more productive, less likely to leave - and back to work quicker when they get ill.”

Benefits adviser Howden Employee Benefits welcomed the initiative.

Mark Waters, Head of Professional Excellence at Howden, said: “Equipsme and Fruitful have come up with a credible ROI model, based on hard data and reasonable assumptions. The fact it can also be tailored to individual businesses is a valuable tool. This will be invaluable for benefit strategists and for businesses, who need to prove that health support can more than pay for itself.

“Right now, health insurance costs are spiralling, and some businesses are baulking at their renewal costs. Not only has Equipsme provided a middle ground between traditional PMI and cash plans, but they’ve provided the evidence businesses need to confidently invest in the health of their people.”

 

Created January 2025