BUPA EAP overview

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Bupa started 70 years ago in the UK as a private health insurance provider. Today, it supports over 20 million people across the globe with the UK making up 26% of its revenue. It remains the UK’s largest health insurance provider.

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In 2021, Bupa launched its EAP service for businesses. Employees covered by the EAP can access counselling sessions with a mental health professional and (unlike other health insurers) Bupa will cover some pre-existing conditions if your team is bigger than 15 people.

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In general, Trustpilot reviews are positive with the only sticking point being that employees must be triaged first by Bupa before they can access counselling which can delay care in urgent cases.

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Let’s take a look at Bupa’s offering in more detail.

Counselling on BUPA

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The Bupa EAP does offer employees counselling sessions on the platform. Employees must first submit a form on the Bupa portal asking to be approved for sessions and provide a condition they want to treat. In some cases will require a letter from a GP or other healthcare professional. Once the form has been submitted, Bupa states that employees will receive a response within 24 hours.

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Unlike other health insurers, Bupa does offer plans that cover pre-existing conditions as long as you have more than 15 people in your team. This would mean treatment for conditions such as ADHD and autism would be included in your plan. To make sure these are covered, choose ‘medical history disregarded’ when building your plan.

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There will of course be additional costs associated with more generous plan cover. If you do want to go with a more cost-effective plan, here is a list of the current exclusions for a standard Bupa plan, summarised below:

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Other services on BUPA

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Integrations

Bupa does not currently offer any integrations for either employees or admins. Employees must visit the Bupa portal to access and admins must manage their plan from there as well.

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Confidentiality

Bupa is a confidential service. Company admins will not know which employees are using the platform. They will know at the end of the plan if their plan costs increase but this is always at the aggregate level.

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Best reviews for BUPA

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Fast referrals once approved

Once members are approved for treatment, the process of referral is straightforward and the wide range of health services available on Bupa get shouted out frequently.

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Claims process is straightforward

Members also highlight that claiming money back for treatment is easy on the platform. If they run into issues, the customer service team is able to assist them so that they are not out of pocket for long.

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Best reviews for BUPA

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Difficult to get approved

Many negative reviews mention the process to get treatment approved is long-winded and unnecessarily complex. There are also incidences of being denied treatment even when they are entitled to it.

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Policy cover is unclear

Employees on company plans are often unclear on what is actually included on the plan. Bupa does not seem to clearly communicate what is and is not included which leads to frequent disappointments.

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Bupa is the most popular of the EAPs provided by private health insurers. They offer good flexibility on their plans with the option to cover pre-existing conditions. While they do not go into detail on price, it’s likely to start from at least £30 per employee based on competitor Vitality’s pricing.

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They work with a good range of healthcare professionals which makes the referral process quick once treatment is approved and customer service is quick to support on any claims that need to be made.

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There are two issues that are highlighted by the reviews. Firstly, Bupa’s EAP requires employees to be triaged and they are sometimes rejected for treatment. Secondly, policy cover when provided via the user’s company is often unclear and can lead to disappointing outcomes for the employees in question.

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If you are looking for EAPs that provide next-day counselling sessions with no approvals needed, try one of the other top 5 EAPs.