Private Medical Insurance: Treatment & Care Policies

What are the options?

Private Medical Insurance or Health Insurance in the UK can seem like a minefield, as many types of insurance often do. Insurers offer many different styles of policies, with many allowing the customer to ‘tailor make’ the policy and fine tube the level of cover to suit their budget. In this article, we aim to break down the options to help you make the right choice.

Here we will out line all the information you need to know about Treatment and Care Policies. Your other options are Diagnosis Policies and Full Medical Insurance Policies. Click the links to find out more to help you make your decision.

Diagnosis Policy Full Medical Insurance Policy

Treatment and Care Policies

Treatment & Care policies work at the other end of the medical journey to the Diagnosis policies. These would cover the customer after they have reached a diagnosis and a medical professional has recommended treatment. The customer can reach diagnosis either by using the NHS, or, they may have funded consultations and diagnostic tests themselves privately.

Treatment & Care policies would cover any in or day patient surgery or treatment, hospital stays and post operative treatment and consultations to discuss the outcomes. Cancer treatment would be covered in full by this type of policy.

Extra benefits such Wellbeing apps and a Digital GP would also be included.
 

Pros:

• Skip the lengthy NHS queues which are often longest for non-life-threatening conditions such as a hip or knee replacement
• Premiums are reduced as the policy does not cover diagnosis
• Claims will not be made against the policy as often as investigations do not always result in treatment

Cons

• Getting a diagnosis may still take a while if you rely on the NHS
• Reach a diagnosis may be costly if you self-fund the investigations privately
• There can be recurring costs for follow up consultations after treatment

Who is it right for?

Treatment & Care policies would suit customers who are happy to fund diagnostics themselves – this can often be a sensible approach as if the investigations reveal that there is no issue, the policyholder will not have made a claim against the policy. Customers will still have the peace of mind that they can receive treatment quickly if necessary.

Monthly Premium for a 45-year-old living in Manchester – £50.74 (as of 01/09/2023 –source: Vitality Health PMI UK)

Overall, Private Medical Insurance may feel complicated, but there really are option to suit everyone. Personal Healthcare Management specialise in finding the right policy for customers and will be happy to give unbiased advice. If you would like to discuss options please email enquiries@phealthcare.co.uk or call 01829781920.