It is easy to get a quote for private health insurance, especially online. But if you are not entirely sure what you are looking for, you could end up with a policy that does not fit your requirements. The ABI indicates that increasing numbers of people in the UK are now taking out private health cover. But there is still a large number of people for who PMI is a new idea that has is now accessible to them because insurers, such as Freedom Healthnet, are creating quality policies but cost-wise it is cheap health insurance. An example of this would be cash plan policies. A typical 30 year old might expect to pay only 4p a day for good, basic cover. Cash plan policies are affordable and cover from £30,000 to £100,000 or even no annual benefit limit of inpatient medical cover per year. With cashplan policies, the policyholder can use the cash payout to arrange a self-pay package in a hospital of their choice. If they shop around and compare prices at the different local private hospitals, they may find that there is a surplus amount, after settling the treatment bill, which they can keep. Alternatively, they can choose to wait for treatment on the NHS and keep all of the money, tax free.
For other people, they may have been covered by one company for a number of years and have only just considered swapping to another health insurance company. It is no wonder that people make mistakes and end up taking out a policy that is not completely relevant or costs them more than necessary. It is always possible to speak to an advisor and discuss your requirements on 0800 999 2013 or compare health insurances online.
The most common mistakes that people make are because they don’t really know what they want from a medical insurance. It is important to consider: what level of cover you need; what your priorities are; do you want to ensure you have cancer cover or alternative therapies, for instance.
It is best to research the different types of cover that a company offers before you even think about alongside the process of getting quotes. This will help you to decide what you can afford and what are essentials and what is a nice extra but not necessarily right for you. You have several options: go to each insurer’s website; go to a broker website such as health insurance broker Healthnet Services or call one of Freedom Healthnet’s advisors and get a quote for Freedom policies (cashplan or comprehensive) and ask for a ‘market comparison’. The advisor will then search all of the health insurance companies and give you comparison quotes whilst you wait (or email you if you prefer). And they will be able to help you decide the level of cover you need and give you ways to reduce your premium or enhance your cover, as you see fit.
Do you need health insurance cover for just you? or you and partner? or your family? or one adult and your children? There are two main types of policies, such as cashplan or comprehensive and various levels of cover available as well, so you will need to decide whether you would like to be covered for inpatient or outpatient treatment or both.
If private GP, dental, physiotherapy and other alternative treatments are something which you would like to be covered for, make sure that these are included. People can also make mistakes with their excesses. Even though they can often bring down the premiums for some policies, you may be paying more excess than the cost of the actual treatment.
By using the health insurance online quote forms, you can play around with adding or removing additional options (and people) on the policy before you commit to buying your cover. This allows you to weigh up what is important and what is not so essential, whilst seeing the exact monthly figure you would pay.
