How does private health insurance work in the UK?

If you're looking at taking out private health insurance for the first time, you're likely going to have a few questions about how it all works.

So in this post, we're going to cover some of the basics along with what's typically covered and what isn't. So with general health insurance, like any other kind of insurance, you pay a monthly or an annual fee called a premium, and then you can make claims for any private health care that you might receive. Now, Depending on the level of cover that you opt for, your insurance is going to cover some or all of the costs of private treatments. Importantly, health insurance is designed to cover new medical conditions which occur after your policy start date.

So pre-existing conditions are always excluded. That's an important point. Now, when you take out a policy, you'll set an excess, which is a monetary amount that you'll contribute towards claims. Now, remember, that unlike other types of cover, such as, say, home insurance or life insurance, the probability of you claiming under your health insurance is far higher. So make sure your excess is affordable.

Now, all health insurance policies will cover the cost of eligible private treatments where you need to be admitted to the hospital overnight or indeed for a day.

Now, with these treatment only plans, you'll usually need to be diagnosed via the NHS before you can go private for your treatment. Now, although if you have the means, of course, you could self-pay to see private specialists. Comprehensive policies typically include a level of outpatient cover as well, which means that following a GP referral, you can go private for diagnostic tests, scans and specialist consultations. lesser treatments where you don't need to be admitted to the hospital you can set an outpatient limit when you take out your policy and that's often ranging from something like 500 pounds per policy per year right up to unlimited and of course needless to say the more outpatient cover you have well the more expensive your policy is going to be now whether you opt for a treatment only plan or one with outpatient cover, you can tailor your policy by adding mental health cover, travel cover, and you can even actually add routine optical and dental care.

Now, we'll cover all of these in a later post, but it's useful for you to know that they're out there and you can choose them if you want. Now, health insurance isn't designed to replace the NHS, and it's actually important that you know what it doesn't cover. So typically, and of course all policies will vary, you can expect all of these and likely more to be excluded.

That's pre-existing conditions, those that you've had before taking out a policy, chronic medical conditions, those that aren't curable, routine pregnancy, although of course there are some exceptions, self-inflicted injuries or self-harm, alcohol or substance abuse, cosmetic surgery, accident and emergency treatment.

Now, these are just some of the exclusions that you can expect, and you should look at your insurer's documentation in a little bit more detail for a full list of that. So that is just about it for this post. To recap, health insurance covers the cost of private healthcare treatment when you're admitted to a hospital, and you can also include outpatient consultations and diagnostic tests for a higher monthly premium.

It's designed to cover acute medical conditions that come on after the policy starts and is used alongside the NHS, not really as a complete replacement. So for more information or to maybe request a free comparison quote, please visit our website and that's at mytribeinsurance.co.uk.

Disclaimer: Please note that the information we provide is for educational purposes & Reviews only and should not replace professional financial advice.