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Own a business or self employed? Safeguard your livelihood

Our resident Health Insurance expert Steve Windaybank on options available to the self employed...

Four in ten of those self-employed people without health insurance insist they don’t need critical illness cover, or don’t see it as a financial priority.

However, three quarters of these business owners or partners have no employees, and no-one to cover for them should they fall ill and be unable to work.

Taking extended sick leave is therefore estimated to cost those in self-employment an average of £67,550 each per year, amounting to a national financial risk of more than £300bn annually.

In light of such statistics, moves have been made to provide those in charge of their own enterprises with accessible health insurance cover and give the self-employed a much-needed break when it comes to ensuring their livelihoods are protected.

Business owners may or may not be aware of health insurance schemes available for self-employed people with a flexible range of health policies at discounted rates.

A specialist health insurer which was founded in 1901 as the Reading Working Peoples’ Voluntary Hospital Contributory Fund, the WPA is a not-for-profit organisation which exists to make healthcare as affordable as possible through its family policies and corporate schemes.

In this spirit, anyone currently recognised by HMRC as actively self-employed, as a holder of a recognised franchise agreement, a director of a private limited company or a partner (within a partnership) can access healthcare cover via the WPA at a 20 per cent reduction in cost over other service users.

In addition, the discount available not only applies to the on-health insurance policy holder (you) but also family members too, with a 20 per cent discount available up to the age of 55 and diminishing by 2 per cent every year thereafter until the age of 65.

Overall, the support provided is intended to get you access to a range of appropriate healthcare measures as quickly as possible, so that you can get back to running your business and tending to your clients before the situation becomes too critical, physically or professionally.

With self-employment now widely attributed as a cornerstone of today’s economy, from an on-health insurance industry perspective, accessing affordable personal protection policies is more vital than ever for those individuals who are their businesses.

Many still don’t have a pension, for example, and others simply cannot afford to take a day off work, whatever time of year it may be.

Bearing all this in mind, the need for sole traders and self-employed to safeguard their livelihoods against the complications ill health can bring about has never been greater.

Health insurance providers like the WPA mean securing cover doesn’t have to be as costly as you might think. Indeed, as a body that began life as a group of workers voluntarily contributing part of their weekly wage to maintaining their health – half a century before the NHS was created – the WPA provides anyone in employment with an insurance cover option worth considering.

For more information or a no obligation quotation please get in touch here quoting CleverWPA Steve Windaybank , or give me a call to arrange an appointment on 01173 790818.