19th January 2010
SMEs get plain speaking from Groupama Healthcare
Groupama Healthcare, one of the UK’s leading providers of health insurance to small and medium sized businesses has been awarded the highly coveted Crystal Mark from the Plain English Campaign for its complete range of policy and explanatory literature.
A guarantee of a document’s clarity, the Crystal Mark accreditation is a demonstration of Groupama’s commitment to making its products as accessible and easy to understand as possible for businesses and their employees.
Groupama’s PMI policies are sold exclusively via brokers ensuring cover is appropriate to each business’s needs. From February 2010 members of Groupama’s group private medical schemes will receive a summary of their cover written in Plain English. In addition and to bring greater consistency and clarity across all its products, Groupama Healthcare has brought together its separate policy booklets to create one Crystal Marked booklet for its group schemes and one for all individual products.
Groupama’s Director of Healthcare, Alistair Sclare said: ;quoteTo achieve the Crystal Mark is a real milestone and a key element in our commitment to treating customers fairly. The Plain English Campaign has rigorous standards and will not award the Crystal Mark unless documentation can be read, understood and acted upon by the intended audience.
;quoteThe importance of protecting a business’s most valuable assets, its employees, has never been more vital and while private medical insurance can seem a luxury, the reality is that through access to high-quality medical treatment it can reduce the amount of time key employees need to spend off work through sickness or a long-term debilitating injury. The introduction of clear, concise and user-friendly documentation is an important step in helping SMEs to appreciate the value of private medical cover as an ongoing investment in the ability of a business to maintain its full operational effectiveness ;quote.
Ends
January 2010
Notes to editors
Groupama Insurances is one of the UK's leading general insurers. The UK group offers motor, home and health insurance and also provides insurance protection to a growing number of smaller UK businesses. The company employs over 800 staff in 6 centres and is an accredited 'Investor in People'.
Award winning
Groupama's Broker Trading Team won the Manchester CII Underwriting Initiative of the Year Award in 2008. Groupama Insurances was also winner of the ‘Claims Initiative of the Year’ Award in the 2007 British Insurance Awards, 'Company of the Year' Award in the Insurance Day Awards 2005, winner of the 'E-Business Award' in the British Insurance Awards 2005 and in both 2005 and 2006 was 'Highly Commended' in category for 'General Insurer of the Year'. Groupama Healthcare won the "Most Innovative New Product" Award at the 2006 Health Insurance
Awards
Groupama is also a previous winner of the 'Underwriter of the Year' award in the British Insurance Awards and has twice been voted 'Underwriting Team of the Year' at the Insurance Day Awards. In addition, the UK Group has been awarded 'Insurer of the Year' at the Bodyshop Magazine Awards and was 'Highly Commended' in the National Business Awards 2005 in the Best Use of Technology category.
An impressive pedigree
Groupama Insurances is part of European financial services giant Groupama, an international business that generates annual revenues in excess of €14billion.
Groupama is one of Europe's largest mutuals, the second insurer in France for motor marine and transport and the country's number one agricultural and individual health insurer.
Visit www.groupama.com for further information relating to the worldwide group
For further press information please contact Alison Reeson, Louise Fowler or Elinor Puzey at HSL on 020 8977 9132 or at hsl@harrisonsadler.com




