By Steve Fay, FAYTH Health
When you introduce a client to another professional, you are putting more than your reputation on the line.
You are trusting that person to look after a relationship you may have spent years building.
That means you need to be confident that your client will receive clear, appropriate advice, be treated with care and never feel as though they have simply been passed to a salesperson.
We understand that responsibility.
At FAYTH Health, we work with accountants and professional advisers who want a trusted specialist to support their clients with private medical insurance and employee healthcare benefits.
We focus solely on health insurance. We do not provide wider financial advice, compete for your client relationship or attempt to cross-sell products outside our area of expertise.
You remain the client’s trusted adviser. We simply become the specialist you can call upon for this one part of their life.
You do not need to be a health insurance expert
Questions about private medical insurance can arise in many different conversations.
Accountants are often particularly well placed to identify an opportunity to help. When reviewing a client’s business expenses, you may see that they are already paying for health insurance or another healthcare benefit. You may notice that the cost has increased, that the business has grown since the arrangement was established or that the existing cover has not been reviewed for some time.
That does not mean you need to assess whether the policy is suitable yourself. It simply gives you a natural opportunity to ask:
“When was the last time you reviewed your health insurance?”
A business owner may also be concerned about increasing sickness absence or struggling to recruit and retain employees. A client approaching retirement may be about to lose their company-funded health insurance. Someone selling, restructuring or closing a business may need to move from a company scheme to personal cover.
A family may simply want greater reassurance about accessing healthcare when they need it.
As an accountant or professional adviser, you may be the first person they ask for help.
You do not need to understand every insurer, underwriting method or benefit option. You only need to recognise when a client may benefit from speaking to a specialist.
We can take it from there.
What happens when you introduce a client to us?
We do not begin with a quotation or assume that the client needs a policy.
We begin with a conversation.
We take the time to understand:
Who the client wants to cover.
What has prompted them to explore health insurance.
What concerns and priorities they have.
Whether they currently have cover in place.
What they want a policy or healthcare benefit to achieve.
Their budget and the level of financial responsibility they are comfortable accepting.
Only once we understand the client’s circumstances do we consider whether WPA offers a suitable solution.
If it does, we explain the available options clearly and help the client make an informed decision.
If it doesn’t, we say so.
That may mean advising someone to stay with their existing insurer, consider a different type of healthcare solution or do nothing for the time being.
Where WPA is not a suitable fit, we will explain why and, where appropriate, signpost the client towards another source of help.
Our objective is not to turn every introduction into a sale. It is to make sure everyone introduced to us receives an honest answer.
Why we specialise in WPA
FAYTH Health works exclusively with WPA.
It is reasonable to ask whether specialising in one insurer could limit the advice we provide. Our view is that specialisation gives us the depth of knowledge required to understand both where WPA works well and where it does not.
Our knowledge extends beyond the headline benefits shown in a brochure. We understand WPA’s products, underwriting approaches and how its policies work in practice.
This allows us to identify:
When WPA may be a strong fit for a client.
Which options are relevant to their circumstances.
Where important limitations or exclusions may apply.
When the client may be better served by remaining with their current provider.
When private medical insurance may not be the right solution at all.
Specialising does not mean trying to make WPA fit every client. It means knowing WPA well enough to recognise when it fits and being honest when it doesn’t..
Protecting your client relationship
One of the most common concerns when making an introduction is what happens to the wider client relationship.
Our boundaries are clear.
We focus solely on the client’s health insurance and employee healthcare benefit needs. We will not attempt to advise them on pensions, investments, mortgages, taxation, business finance or any other area outside our specialism.
Your client remains your client.
Where appropriate, and with the client’s permission, we will keep you updated on the progress of the introduction. We will also respect the client’s privacy and confidentiality throughout the process.
Our aim is to complement the advice and support you already provide, not compete with it.
Advice should not be driven by the sale
We have had several recent conversations that did not result in someone becoming a client.
We are pleased they didn’t.
In some cases, we advised people to remain with their existing insurer because it was still the best option for their circumstances.
In others, private medical insurance was not the right solution, or the timing was simply not right.
None of those conversations resulted in a sale. However, each person finished the process with greater clarity and avoided making a decision that would not have been right for them.
That matters more to us than selling a policy.
It also means that when you introduce someone to FAYTH Health, you can be confident that we will not recommend WPA simply because it is the provider we represent.
We will only recommend it when we believe it offers a suitable solution for the client in front of us.
The right solution may not be private medical insurance
A business may initially believe it needs comprehensive private medical insurance when its immediate challenges could be better addressed by a different type of healthcare benefit.
For example, we recently worked with a business that had experienced a difficult year. Employees had been absent through sickness and the owners understandably felt that something needed to change.
After exploring the situation properly, it became clear that full private medical insurance was not the solution that would help them most.
A flexible health cash plan was better suited to their immediate needs. It provided support towards everyday healthcare costs that employees were more likely to use regularly, including dental, optical and GP charges. This sat alongside occupational health support focused on the particular issue contributing to the absences.
The arrangement cost considerably less than a full private medical insurance policy and provided benefits employees could use in their everyday lives.
The client received something genuinely suited to its business and its people, rather than the more expensive solution it initially thought it needed.
The owners also know where to come if full private medical insurance becomes appropriate in the future.
That is how we believe advice should work.
Our support continues after the policy starts
Arranging a policy is only the beginning of our relationship with a client.
The real value of advice often becomes apparent when someone needs to use their cover.
At that point, the client may be worried about their health and unsure about:
Who to contact and how to begin a claim.
Whether treatment may be covered.
What authorisation they need before arranging treatment.
How to access the different clinical pathways and services available through their policy.
Which benefits may be available without affecting their excess, where applicable.
How to make the best use of the benefits they are paying for.
What to do if their circumstances or requirements change.
We remain available to guide clients through these questions and help them understand how to use their policy properly.
FAYTH Health also runs regular drop-in sessions, giving clients and employees an opportunity to ask questions and better understand the support and benefits available to them.
Our support also continues at renewal. We contact clients ahead of their renewal date to review whether their policy still reflects their needs, priorities and budget. Where circumstances have changed, we can explore whether the cover should be adjusted to help keep it appropriate and affordable for the longer term.
We do not arrange a policy and disappear. We stay involved, help clients make proper use of their cover and support them in keeping it suitable throughout the lifetime of the policy.
When might a client benefit from an introduction?
A conversation with FAYTH Health may be helpful when a client is:
Reviewing existing personal or company health insurance.
Approaching retirement and losing employer-funded cover.
Selling, restructuring or closing a business.
Considering health insurance for themselves or their family.
Exploring employee benefits to support recruitment and retention.
Concerned about sickness absence or employee wellbeing.
Looking for healthcare benefits that employees can use regularly.
Unsure whether their current policy still provides suitable protection and value.
You have noticed health insurance or another healthcare benefit within their business expenses and it has not been reviewed recently.
You do not need to decide which product the client needs or whether WPA will be appropriate. That is the conversation we will have with them.
A specialist extension of your service
Accountants and professional advisers are trusted because they understand their clients and recognise when specialist support may be needed.
By introducing a client to FAYTH Health, you are not expected to become involved in the technical details of private medical insurance.
You are simply giving your client access to a specialist who will listen, explain the options clearly and provide an honest recommendation.
We will protect the trust you have established, remain within our area of expertise and look after the client properly.
Sometimes the right answer will be WPA. Sometimes it will not.
Either way, your client will have received clear, specialist advice, and you will have helped them find the support they needed.
If you are an accountant or professional adviser and would like to understand how we can support you and your clients, let’s talk.
Get in touch
Call: 07983 124873
Visit: faythhealth.co.uk/contact-us
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