Health Insurance in the UK
In the UK, the NHS provides free medical services. However, many people prefer private healthcare since it comes with added advantages such as faster treatment. And just like any other insurance, medical insurance comes at a fee. However, many people see it cheaper to pay private health insurance unlike paying treatment fees.
Benefits of Private Health Care Insurance
Unlike the NHS services, with medical insurance in the UK, you can wider medical services. Private health insurance will offer the following benefits:
Less wait time. Unlike the NHS that has an average wait time of six weeks to access treatment, with private health insurance, you can get treatment as soon as your insurance provider approved your cover. This means that you can get treated the same day your insurance policy is approved.
Specialized treatment and drugs. Unlike with the NHS which must try to cut on the cost of treatment not to waste public money, with private health insurance you can access the best healthcare. Private health insurance will cover your cost to access extensive treatment.
Private rooms. Unlike with the NHS medical services, you can access private wards as you recover or while awaiting treatment. This is much better since you also get more health attention. Such private rooms also come with benefits such as access to WiFi and entertainment facilities.
You can choose the hospital and doctor to treat you. With a private health medical insurance, a patient can choose in what hospital to be treated and the doctor to treat him. This is not possible with the NHS since doctors work in shifts and one has no option to choose who to treat him.
Private Insurance Policy UK Coverage
Medical health insurance UK has a wide coverage that ranges from inpatient and outpatient treatment. Besides, it will also cover other costs such as consultations, diagnosis and treatment of a disease. If you also spend a night in the hospital, the insurance will cater for the costs incurred.
Just like other insurance policies, for health insurance policies, you also need to make monthly or yearly premiums. When you get ill, you will visit a hospital get treatment and your health insurance provider will make payment. However, there could be a limit to the number of individuals who can make a claim every year. There could also be a limit on the number of conditions you can claim for and the number of treatments you can receive each year.
Types of Medical Insurance
While buying private health insurance, you need to select a policy that suits your needs. There are four kinds of health insurance policy UL that you can buy. They include:
Individual medical insurance. This policy only covers treatment fees for only one person.
Family medical insurance. This policy covers the medical needs of a family; partners and their children.
Joint Medical Insurance. It only covers two people who in this case must be partners.
Children’s medical insurance. This is a medical insurance policy that is set aside for children only.
Apart from the above medical policies, there is medical insurance that is specific for an age group. This is common for elderly people who are above 50 years.
In addition, there is also the basic medical insurance policy that covers inpatient services only, while Medium medical insurance policy covers inpatient and outpatient medical services. The comprehensive medical insurance policy covers inpatient, outpatient and extra care to the policyholder.
Finding the Right Type of Health Insurance UK
To get a medical insurance cover that adequately covers your needs, you need to shop around. You can also make use of online medical health insurance comparison sites. Money Supermarket will help you compare health insurance policies online and get the cheapest health insurance quote. Compare the Market will help you to compare the price further and get a cheaper quote and one that can adequately cover your needs.
Comparing health insurance policies is important since it helps you to compare costs against benefits that each policy offers. Also, it is important to understand the terms and conditions of a policy before you can consider buying it.
Cost of Medical Health Insurance Policy UK
The cost of medical health insurance in the UK depends on the illnesses that you have covered yourself against. For instance, a cover for cancer would be much higher compare to that of asthma. Taking a cover for already existing conditions is also expensive.
Some insurance covers have exemptions. For instance, some do not cover long term and emergency medical conditions. Others do not cover pregnancy care. These insurance providers insist that insurance is for serious but curable short term illnesses. That is why it is important to understand every medical health insurance policy before committing yourself to it.