Bupa and YuLife launch enhanced workplace health cash plan
Bupa has partnered with employee wellbeing platform YuLife to launch an enhanced Health Cash Plan to help employers tackle rising levels of sickness absence, presenteeism and poor workforce health.
The new “Bupa x YuLife Health Cash Plan” combines cashback on everyday healthcare costs with digital wellbeing tools designed to encourage healthier habits and earlier intervention. The launch reflects growing pressure on UK businesses to improve employee wellbeing as sickness-related absence continues to rise.
According to figures highlighted by Bupa, around 150 million working days are lost to sickness absence in the UK each year. In addition, presenteeism, where employees continue working despite being unwell, is estimated to cost businesses £25 billion annually.
The insurer says the plan is designed to move beyond traditional reactive healthcare benefits by combining preventative health support with access to everyday healthcare services.
How the Bupa x YuLife Health Cash Plan works
Through its digital service, the new health cash plan allows employees to claim back the cost of a range of routine healthcare expenses, including dental treatment, optical care, therapies, prescriptions and diagnostic tests.
Alongside the cashback element, employees also gain access to a range of digital healthcare and wellbeing services through the YuLife app. These include:
- Online GP appointments
- Musculoskeletal (MSK) support
- A digital skin check tool for potential skin cancer concerns
- Bupa’s Employee Assistance Programme
- A 24/7 nurse helpline
The platform also incorporates YuLife’s gamified wellbeing model, rewarding employees for completing healthy activities and building positive habits through digital challenges and incentives.
Three levels of cover are available, allowing employers to choose different reimbursement limits depending on budget and workforce needs. Bupa says the plan uses a book-rated pricing model designed to provide employers with greater long-term cost predictability.
Josh Hart, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at YuLife, said: “This Cash Plan is the all-in-one employee benefit, built for companies of every size and priced so more of them can offer it.”
Focus on prevention and workforce engagement
The launch reflects a broader shift in workplace health benefits towards preventative support and employee engagement, rather than simply funding treatment once someone becomes unwell.
Dan Sullivan, Director of Product and Proposition at Bupa UK Insurance, said: “Businesses are under growing pressure from rising levels of absence and poor workforce wellbeing. Employers are looking for solutions that not only support people when they become unwell, but help them stay healthy in the first place.”
The plan includes workforce wellbeing analytics through YuLife’s “Yunity” platform, which provides employers with anonymised insights into how benefits are being used and highlights emerging health trends and risks within the workforce.
Chris Steele, founder and editor of myTribe Insurance Experts, said: “The combination of preventative wellbeing tools and traditional health cash plan benefits introduced by Bupa and YuLife reflects the direction workplace healthcare is moving in. Bringing digital wellbeing support together with everyday healthcare benefits could help improve engagement and make these types of plans more valuable to employees.”
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