Get medical treatment faster, choose where and when you're treated and benefit from specialist recovery and aftercare with private health insurance.
Private health insurance, often called private medical insurance (PMI), covers the cost of being treated privately for "acute medical conditions" that start after your policy begins.Private medical insurance is designed to work in conjunction with the NHS. While comprehensive policies provide excellent coverage, there will still be instances where the NHS should be your first port of call.
It's no secret that the NHS is facing significant issues with lengthy waiting times for everything from routine operations to GP appointments. Private health insurance enables you to be seen faster and ultimately on the road to recovery sooner.
With private health insurance, you pay a monthly premium, and if you require treatment for an eligible condition, you can claim through your insurer and opt to be treated in a private hospital.
Primarily there are two types of health insurance to choose between, treatment-only and comprehensive policies.
Private health insurance has many benefits, with the speed of treatment perhaps being the most valuable.
As we've already outlined, health insurance is designed to cover the cost of private treatment for acute medical conditions you suffer after taking out your policy. Pre-existing conditions, meaning those you've suffered from in the past five years, will be excluded, as well as chronic conditions, such as asthma or diabetes.
An acute condition comes on rapidly, requiring short-term treatment and care. Acute medical conditions are those for which a relatively swift recovery is expected following treatment.
Examples of acute conditions:
Note: depending on the policy you opt for, some of the above may or may not be covered, so please check with us or your policy documentation for more detail.
The critical difference between basic and comprehensive health insurance is whether outpatient cover is included. Here we explain the key differences between these types of treatment.
Inpatient and day-patient treatments are those where you need to be admitted to hospital either overnight or for a day. If you need a bed during your visit, you'll either be an inpatient or a day patient.
Inpatient and day-patient treatments are those where you need to be admitted to hospital either overnight or for a day. If you need a bed during your visit, you'll either be an inpatient or a day patient.
By including outpatient cover (which most people do), you enhance your policy and unlock many more private treatment and diagnosis options. Here's what's typically included:
Finally, there are several ways you can further customise your policy to suit your specific requirements. Your options include the following:
While what is and isn't covered will vary between policies, there are some general exclusions you'll find with all health insurance providers. These include; pre-existing conditions, chronic conditions, routine pregnancy, self-harm and suicide, emergency treatment, intensive care, fertility or IVF treatment, cosmetic surgery, and treatment for alcoholism or other substance abuse.
While these are the most common exclusions, your insurer and policy may have different ones you should be aware of, so please ask us if you'd like more detail.
Private medical insurance is a relatively complicated product; to the untrained eye, it can be easy to miss or overlook critical aspects. At Globacare, all of our advisers have many years of experience and can quickly help you compare the best policies and find the right one for you. The service we provide is completely free, with no obligation to buy.
We work hard to provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction, and it's one of the main reasons that many of our clients have been with us for years. Here's what you can expect from us:
