Health Shield reports strong results

The health cash plan provider also saw significant rises in the number of new members and new company paid groups schemes. New members jumped 63% to 40,311 from 24,656 in 2008, while new company paid group schemes totaled 147, up 145%. However, the number of members retained during the year did fall by 2%. Alongside the increased members, the volume of claims paid rose to 322,571, and the friendly-society adds that it paid-out almost 80% of its contributions back in the form of benefits. The significant growth is part of a plan to double annual premium income by 2013, and it bro...