Aligning health benefits after a merger

What harmonisation means for health benefits

Harmonisation means bringing two groups of people onto one set of benefits. With health cover, two firms usually hold different plans in different countries, with different limits and renewal dates, and people from both sides compare them in the first weeks after the deal.

The aim is one standard for everyone that is at least as good as what each person holds today, introduced so that nobody is without cover for a single day. A clear standard also gives managers one answer when people ask what the merger means for their health care.

What TUPE protects in the UK

In the UK, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 protect people when a business or a service moves to a new employer. The transfer does not end their contracts, and the old employer’s rights, powers, duties and liabilities under those contracts pass to the new one [1].

Acas notes that TUPE is not likely to apply if a deal is a transfer of shares only, so ask your lawyers which rules apply to each part of the deal [2]. Where TUPE does apply, Acas lists insurance-based benefits among the contractual terms that transfer, and advises the new employer to assume all terms transfer unless it receives different legal advice [3]. Occupational pension provisions are treated separately in the Regulations [4].

A change to transferred contracts made because of the transfer is void unless an exception applies [1]. Acas explains that an employer can harmonise terms where the change improves them, and that there is no limit on how long the protection lasts [5]. Before the transfer, the employer must also inform representatives of the people affected, long enough beforehand to consult them, including the measures it envisages [6].

Why the cost differs by country

Medical costs rise at a different rate in every market, so two merging firms bring two sets of price curves. One global survey projects a worldwide medical trend of 9.0% for 2027, down from 9.8% in 2026 [7], and still more than triple the rate of inflation [8].

The spread between countries is wide. The same survey projects 14.7% for Singapore, 9% for Hong Kong, 4.9% for Australia and 3.1% for Japan in 2027, against forecast general inflation of 2.5% across Asia Pacific [7]. Until the plans are brought together, each of those rises is negotiated on its own, in its own month.

How to bring people in several countries onto one membership

Work to the renewal calendar, mapping every plan both firms hold by country and renewal date, then move each group onto the same membership as its old plan comes to an end. Nobody loses cover in between, and nobody pays to leave a contract early.

Begin with the leaders of both firms, because they set the tone for everyone else and often travel between the two sets of offices. Then move each country in turn, finding anyone in active treatment before their plan changes so their care continues with the same clinician wherever possible.

Keep one list of who is covered where, owned by one person in the people team, and tell each group what changes for them a few weeks before their date.

In the United States, the membership sits above the medical plan as the global layer, so leaders and people who travel hold the same care as colleagues elsewhere, and their families hold it with them.

A checklist for the first year after a merger

Work through it with your lawyers and your people team, and keep the answers in one place.

• List every health plan both firms hold, with its country and renewal date.
• Ask counsel whether TUPE or local transfer rules apply to each group.
• Inform and consult representatives early wherever the law requires it.
• Set one standard of care at least as good as what each person holds today.
• Find anyone in active treatment, privately and through a clinician, before their plan changes.
• Move each group at its own renewal date so nobody is ever without cover.
• Keep one owner in the people team and one list of who is covered where.

What The Wellness for teams does

The Wellness for teams is one membership for the whole firm, its leaders and their families, with inpatient, outpatient and dental care, diagnostics and health programmes in 13 cities. A concierge arranges every appointment, and the company receives one invoice renewed once a year.

Outside the United States it takes the place of national plans at each renewal, so a merged firm moves country by country onto the same care. In the United States it is the global layer above the medical plan. Leaders can start in one morning and the firm within 10 days.