Shopping around for your health insurance cover

Due to its complex and often expensive nature shopping around for health insurance cover can be made easier and more cost effective by using an independent financial advisor or specialist health care insurance broker. They can help you identify your needs and then match them to the appropriate insurance products for you.

When you know what you want from your health insurance, whether it's to cover you while you're travelling, provide an income if you become sick or give extra peace of mind for you and your family, you can start comparing like for like packages across the marketplace.

For example, a married couple in their 30's with two children will usually pay less per person, than a 21 year old single male. But, a couple in their 50's could pay up to twice as much per person, than a 21 year old single man. Which is why it's important to shop around for tailored packages geared towards your age and family type.

As with most insurance, health insurance is available from a large number of providers in the UK, the key players include:

• AXA PPP Healthcare (also underwrites Saga and Tesco health insurance and Health-on-Line.co.uk)
• Aviva
• Bupa
• Groupama Healthcare
• PruHealth (also underwrites Boots' health insurance plans)
• Standard Life

Full cover health insurance plans are costly and often include types of cover not required by everyone, for example an older single man doesn't need cover for pregnancy or children in his policy. Health insurance regulators as well as the larger health insurance providers offer good advice on ways to control and reduce the costs of health insurance whilst still being able to have a reasonable level of cover in place, things you can do include:

When and how does the policy pay out? Do you have to pay for treatment yourself then claim it back or does the insurer pay the hospital or specialist directly?

• What aspects of the insurance is included in the basic package and which options come at an extra cost?
Other things to think
about and/or ask your broker, when shopping around for health insurance are:
• What claim limits exist? Are the limits high enough to avoid me paying additional costs for things like surgery?
• Do they have a no claims (or reduced claims) discount scheme?
• Do I have to re-apply if I want to add children or a new partner later on?
• What customer support options are there, are there qualified medical and insurance experts available via a helpline?
• Does having a policy for several years result in discounts and increased cover options?
• Is there a time or age limit when the policy will expire, i.e. if I turn 65 can I still automatically renew the policy?
• Is your insurer or broker a member of, and regulated by, an insurance industry organisation?

Most health insurance companies have online sites which have detailed information about their products and policies, including quote options. This can be the quickest way to shop around. If you don't know which insurer you want to use, just doing a search from your home page, for example typing in exactly what you're looking for, i.e. "private medical family insurance", or "low cost medical cover" will bring up several links for you to investigate.

You can also take advantage of independent online comparison sites which compare different products and packages from the leading health insurers. With health insurance it's important to take your time to compare as many packages as possible if you're doing it yourself, to make sure you're getting the cover you need at a price you can afford. We've included some links below to respected independent comparison sites to help start your search:

http://www.usayhealth.com Compare all available policies (and levels of cover) to find a private medical insurance policy to suit both your needs and your monthly budget.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/medical Search over 450 health insurance prices and buy online.

http://www.healthinsurance.co.uk/ Free, no-obligation health insurance quotes provided by health specialists who compare cover levels and costs from the UK's leading providers.

Download the Health Insurance PDF Guide here - see our other free PDF guides here

Guide Contents

What is health insurance?
Why you might need private health insurance
What are the different types of health insurance plans?
Shopping around for your health insurance cover
Health Care Insurance, How to Apply
Health Insurance FAQs - Questions and Information
UK Health Insurance, where can I go to get more help?

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