Best private health insurance 2024

The NHS provides comprehensive healthcare that's free at the point of need. 

Accessing private healthcare, meanwhile, is far from cheap: for example, the cost of hip or knee replacement surgery is easily likely to exceed £10,000. What's more, the quality of private treatment isn't likely to be better than that you'd receive through the NHS. So why pay?

The main appeal of private healthcare and insurance is greater choice of where and when you are treated, and the speed and convenience in getting the treatment.

Most private health insurance policies will offer some level of cover for:

• Private treatment
• Hospital accommodation
• Nursing care
• Outpatient treatment (where you don't stay in hospital overnight)
• Consultations

Extra cover that may be available can include psychiatric treatment, complementary therapies and drugs that aren't available on the NHS (but that have been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence).

There are two main types of private health insurance: fully underwritten or moratorium policies.

Fully underwritten policies

If you choose fully underwritten private health insurance, you will have to give your provider your full medical history. It uses this to decide whether to insure you, and how much to charge.

Moratorium policies

With a moratorium plan, you will only need to give limited information to your insurer.

Buying a moratorium policy is more convenient than going through your extensive medical history with your insurer, but fully underwritten plans can actually be cheaper and you'll know from day one which conditions you're covered and not covered for.

Specialist policies

Some insurers also have specialist policies. For example, some only cover you when you have to wait longer than six weeks for NHS treatment. Other policies are designed specifically for the over-55s, or have a special focus on one disease, such as cancer.

Modular, pick-and-mix style policies are increasingly common. These cover you for inpatient treatments but also allow you to add or subtract elements of cover so that you tailor-make your insurance package.

Speak to a broker for help

Private health insurance is a complicated product so it's best to speak to a broker, especially if you have had medical problems or need specialist cover for certain illnesses.

To find a broker, you can check out the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) or the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries (AMII) or use the service provided by Lifesearch.

• Find out more: LifeSearch's website
• Find out more: BIBA's website
• Find out more: AMII's website

Cut your costs by tweaking your policy

Once you have picked a policy, you can start to cut costs by tweaking the cover.

Start by considering your choice of hospitals. Most providers will give you a list to choose from and you may be able to cut costs if you opt for a shorter list.

Decide which parts of the cover are really important to you; many insurers allow you to pick and choose from modules. For instance, dispensing with, or reducing, outpatient cover (for the most part, consultations with doctors and scans), can take hundreds off the annual premium.

Some insurers also provide an option of scaling back on fully comprehensive cancer cover by providing cover, for instance, that only kicks in if you need treatments or drugs that aren't available through the NHS.

Excesses, co-payments and wait periods

Next, think about adding an excess to your policy. If you're content to contribute to the cost of treatment yourself your premiums will fall – just make sure you can afford to pay the excess.

'Co-payments' are a variation on the excess theme. With a co-payment, you commit to paying a percentage of a claim's cost (say 10% or 15%) up to a maximum amount (say £1,000).

You'll receive a discount on the premium because you'll be leaning less on the insurer, but the maximum amount means you won't find yourself facing unaffordable amounts.

Also consider whether you'd be willing to have some treatment on the NHS. Many policies allow you to choose discounted cover that kicks in only where the NHS can't provide it quickly (usually six weeks). So, if speed of treatment is your main reason for going private, this can be a good compromise.

Take care if ditching and switching

Private health insurance is a little different than car and home insurance where switching each year brings you savings. Switching policies to get a better price – while certainly not impossible – should be done with care.

If your premium's gone up and you eye a cheaper deal elsewhere, check what the terms of the switch would actually be before parting ways with your current insurer. Importantly, if you have any medical conditions that are currently covered, make sure the new policy will continue to cover these.

This can be complicated to navigate, so it could be worth consulting an adviser or broker if you're not confident.

Stay as healthy as you can

Some insurers will give you discounts if you stay healthy. Aviva's MyHealthCounts scheme, for example, rewards you with up to 15% off your renewal premium if you're fit and healthy.

Step 1: Read your policy document

Different health insurers have different claims processes. If you're planning to seek private treatment, read the small print of your policy or check your insurer's website to see whether there's specific guidance.

Step 2: Speak to your GP

Start by speaking to your GP about your condition as you normally would. Your GP can refer you for private treatment. There are two main types of referral: an open referral, where your GP doesn't address the letter to a specific consultant; or named referral, where a specialist is listed on the letter.

Read the terms and conditions of your policy to check which one your provider will want.

Step 3: Call your private health insurance provider

Next, call your provider and explain the situation. What you'll need when you call will differ from provider to provider, but consider the following:

• your policy number
• details of what your GP told you
• details about your condition
• details of your referral.

Step 4: Call your private health insurance provider (again) once you have seen a specialist

Once you have seen a specialist, call your provider again to let them know what steps will be taken next. Also, make sure you understand how you'll pay for any consultations or treatment – either you'll have to pay and claim the money back, or you'll provider will pay directly.

Step 5: Don't be afraid to complain

If your claim doesn't pan out as you expect, or you feel your insurer has treated you unfairly, don't be afraid to complain.

Speak to your provider first, but if it isn't proving helpful (and you've exhausted their complaints process) take the matter up with the Financial Ombudsman Service by calling 0300 123 9123.

Going private for medical treatment gives you extra choice, but it also potentially opens up additional confusion when deciding where to go and working out how much procedures will cost.

Your GP may be able to provide some advice, as might your health insurer.

Another source of information worth considering is the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), which was tasked by the Competition and Markets Authority to help make the private healthcare more transparent to consumers by compiling and publishing data on private hospitals and consultants.

You can use PHIN's website to compare options in your area, including customer ratings of local private hospitals and fees charged by different consultants.

• Find out more: The PHIN website

Most people who make use of private healthcare do so via insurance, but paying directly - 'self-paying' - is increasingly common.

The costs that you can expect to chalk up will include the initial consultation and any necessary diagnostic costs, the price of the treatment itself, hospital fees and followup care. Hospitals often sell these as a package.

The price you would pay as a self-payer versus what an insurer would be invoiced for are often different. Insurers can sometimes negotiate lower prices - but on other occasions there will be preferable discounts only available to self-payers.

This is less an alternative to health insurance than it is an alternative way of owning it. Many employers offer health insurance as a perk of the job.

Employer private health insurance schemes are usually cheaper and more generous - for example, covering pre-existing conditions - than policies you can buy separately from an insurer.

Healthcare cashplans are generally much cheaper than private health insurance, but are only designed to cover everyday health expenses such as dental work, glasses, contact lenses, or physiotherapy.

The cover you get is unlikely to extend towards the costs of serious medical treatment, such as an operation.

You pay a monthly premium, and the cashplan provider will reimburse you for medical expenses covered in the plan. There's an annual limit on how much you can claim, with more comprehensive policies having higher limits.

Critical illness insurancecover is often sold with life insurance and pays out a cash lump sum if you're diagnosed with one of a number of listed critical illnesses, including some types of cancer, a heart attack or stroke, multiple sclerosis or the loss of limbs.

A critical illness policy can be used to pay for anything - and so might include medical treatment costs, adaptations for your home (such as mobility aids, special equipment or structural changes required due to a disability), or to pay off your mortgage.

The one thing it doesn't do is provide a regular income, which income protection does.

The illnesses covered vary between insurers, so get advice before buying a policy and check the policy document. Pre-existing conditions tend to be excluded, but some insurers will base cover on your medical history

Find out more in our full guide to critical illness insurance explained.