Groupama may not be among the largest of the health insurance providers but it is known to be among the most innovative. The company traces its roots in insurance back over 150 years when if began operations among the agricultural communities in France. It is today the largest individual health insurer in France.

Groupama Healthcare is the health insurance division of Groupama Insurances which is one of the United Kingdom’s leading general insurance companies. It is based in Hertfordshire and employs a staff of over 100 people.

The company’s health insurance plan operates under the name of Santé and offers the highest levels of service along with a wide variety of options making the plan flexible enough to suit nearly any specific corporate requirements. The product is meant for small and medium companies and is not for individuals. A special product called Santé For You has been created for the individual policy holder and is similar to the corporate Santé plan but has been modified to suit the requirements of the individual.

Among the highlights of the Santé plan are:

• A commitment to delivering first class service. A recent survey conducted to ascertain the levels of policy holder satisfaction found 98% were satisfied with the claims service. This and other surveys are conducted regularly by the company to understand what its clients are looking for and where they feel improvements in the nature of service and types of coverage available may be made.
• The company maintains the operational efficiency levels of the Santé plan by publishing their service standards for all to see and then continually benchmarking themselves against these standards. The expected service standards and the actual levels achieved are there for the policy holders to see and judge the company’s performance for themselves.
• Groupama Healthcare does its costing and sets the premiums based on historical data which ensures that the costs reflect a fair price for the risks covered. This means that they are able to offer price stability over a period of years and their premiums are not prone to the highly volatile fluctuations of some other health care insurers.

Santé is available in four operating levels. Section 1 is the base coverage level that includes inpatient and outpatient treatments, private ambulance, home nursing, NHS cash benefits and a free advice and counseling helpline for the policy holders. The other 3 levels add progressively more features to this basic level of coverage and at the top of the scale the plan offers among the best comprehensive coverages of any health insurance plan in the country. The core benefits themselves are extremely good in terms of the value of coverage:

• Full refund on specialist fees
• Full refund on Hospital charges
• Outpatient treatment on GP referral - £750
• Full refund on outpatient treatment on specialist referral
• Home nursing - full refund
• Private ambulance - full refund
• NHS Cash benefit - £150 per night (unlimited nights)

Groupama Healthcare has a user friendly online policy administration facility that saves a lot of time and makes policy enquiries and modifications fast and simple.

Groupama Health Insurance is a part of Groupama Insurances, one of the UK’s leading general insurers. The UK group offers motor, home and medical insurance and protects a growing number of smaller UK businesses.

The company employs approximately 800 staff in six centres and is an accredited ‘Investor in People’. Groupama Insurances is a previous ‘Underwriter of the Year’ award winner at the British Insurance Awards and has also been highly commended in the same category. At the Insurance Day Awards, Groupama Insurances has twice been voted ‘Underwriting Team of the Year’ and recently received the honour of ‘Company of the Year’. The UK Group has also been awarded ‘Insurer of the Year’ at the Bodyshop Magazine Awards.

Groupama Insurances is part of European financial services giant Groupama, an international insurance business that generates annual revenues of £7billion.