There are a great many health insurance plans on offer. Basically, whatever they call these plans, insurers are offering three main products. Here we outline the differences between the three choices.
The "top drawer"
when it comes to health insurance is a fully comprehensive plan - one which
pays out for any medical need which you may have whenever or wherever you need
it. The only problem with this type of insurance is that it tends to be very
expensive. This is because there have been major technological advances in
medical procedures in recent years and the costs of these are extremely high.
Any insurance product which promises no limit to the amount or cost of
treatments is necessarily going to have to be expensive to cover these costs.
Just because you can't
afford a fully comprehensive package, it doesn't mean that private health
insurance is unattainable. When you think of the alternative, which could be
long waiting lists for NHS treatment or "go-it-alone" private treatment
- with the hope that nothing too serious or expensive crops up - you may
realize the other options are worth considering.
An easy way to reduce the
expense of comprehensive policies would be to agree to pay a large excess of
any claim. It should also be possible to find an insurer who will keep the
premiums down by excluding some conditions from the scope of the cover.
Co-payment policies are
another option, where the responsibility for the expense of private treatment
is shared by the insurer and the insured. You would agree to pay part of each
claim, normally an agreed percentage. Premiums can be reduced further if you
exempt certain treatments, such as outpatients or physiotherapy and the like.
Cash plans offer the very
cheapest cover, but can offer some useful help. The coverage is not very great,
but usually the way they work is by providing you with a lump sum, subject to a
set limit, for medical services. These could be dental or optical appointments,
hospital visits or physiotherapy sessions and for each night that you spend in
any hospital you would be given a cash payment.
If you have a family, its
well worth considering a family plan, tailored to whatever you can afford.
Children's illnesses can be very worrying and whilst the NHS is there for
emergencies and is invaluable in this situation, there are long waiting lists
to even see a specialist for diagnosis and that's before they're placed on the
waiting list for any surgery that may be necessary. The disruption to the whole
family can be considerable. Very often both parents are working and this can
mean time off or paying for child care - at a time when what the child really
needs is their parents. Private care can avoid that entire trauma and this is
where it really comes into its own.
So, some type of health
insurance should be affordable and the reassurance it gives is invaluable. Do
compare quotes though, and compare like with like. Get on-line and find an
adviser who can go through all the options and come up with the best option for
you at a price you can manage.
If you decide to “go it
alone”, you could open a savings plan specifically to cover health-care costs.
You should be aware, though, of the costs of what seems like fairly basic
surgery and be prepared for either topping up this fund or what could be a very
long wait until you’re back to your healthy self.
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