Aviva is offering its customers new options to help reduce the cost of their health insurance .

The insurer’s individual product, Healthier Solutions, now has two new reduced out-patient benefit options and a choice of higher excess options, which both offer significant premium discounts.

Customers can now choose to reduce the out-patient cover available by deciding on either a 500 or 1,000 limit per person per policy year. Customers who opt for a 500 out-patient benefit limit will receive a 30 per cent premium discount, while those choosing a 1,000 limit will receive a 15 per cent premium reduction.

Neal Archbold, head of propositions management and market development at Aviva UK Health, said: “Whilst many of our customers still want the extensive cover available as standard on the policy, intermediary feedback showed that there is an increasing appetite for higher excess options and reduced out-patient cover, similar to the popular option we already offer on our Solutions product for group schemes.”

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Householders that use social network sites such as facebook and Twitter could see their home insurance premiums rise in the future, Confused.com predicts, because of the security risk they pose. The comparison website is warning social networkers that they could be making themselves vulnerable to potential criminals but posting about going on holiday in their facebook status, or tweeting about their whereabouts on Twitter. This added risk could see the cost of home insurance rise, Confuised.com suggests, because criminals are alerted when people are not home, and could find out where they live if they have included their address in their online profile. Confused.com is joining website PleaseRobMe.com in trying to raise awareness about how information on social network sites might be used in ways that people do not expect. Darren Black, head of home insurance at Confused.com commented: “I wouldn’t be surprised that as social media grows in popularity and more location-based applications come to fore, insurance providers consider these in their pricing of an individual’s risk.” Mr Black believes that this could add up to 10 per cent to the cost of a home insurance policy for a social networker. “Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering even using Google earth and street view to plan their burglaries with military precision,” he continued.

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Post Office Travel Insurance is warning travellers to ensure they have looked into the vaccinations required before they travel abroad to ensure they don’t invalidate their travel insurance cover .

ABTA are predicting Morocco and Turkey to be popular holiday destinations in 2010. However, a significant number of holidaymakers are unaware that immunisations are required before visiting these countries. One in two UK holidaymakers do not know that vaccinations are needed to visit to Morocco, while eight out of ten do not know about the immunisation requirement for travel to Turkey .

According to Post Office Travel Insurance, those who travel abroad without considering a doctor’s advice on the recommended vaccines could put their health at risk and potentially invalidate their travel insurance .

Rachel Croft said: “In the unfortunate event that you become ill on holiday, you do not want to be worrying about crippling health costs. It is important that you take the necessary care to safeguard health and avoid the potential financial implications.”

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High value net-worth specialists, Regal Insurance, have unveiled a new website to assist the demands of its growing customer base.

Regal Insurance is part of the Castle Cover insurance group and makes provisions for the insurance needs of those who require a higher level of insurance cover than that offered by many standard policies.

The site includes new features such as a contents insurance calculator to help its customers value their possessions and an online quotation facility. As part of the redesign, more specialist insurance products have been added including legal, home emergency cover and garden insurance . This is in addition to Regal’s range of products such as buildings and contents which covers art insurance, jewellery insurance and antiques insurance.

Andy Cole, head of marketing at Castle Cover said: “The Regal levels of cover are tailor-made for people needing higher levels of home insurance cover. People who require this elevated standard of policy base their decision on more than just price, so they need the advice and support of specialists.”

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