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'Shared responsibility' on private health insurance
A percentage share of every claim rather than a flat first slice — and only one UK insurer in our set offers it.
52 detailed UK guides
Buyer questions answered
Each answer cites the insurers whose documents address the question.
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Are private health insurance add-on benefits worth it?
Individually small, collectively the part of the policy most people never claim — largely because nobody tells them it is there.
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Can I add my partner, child or parent to my policy? | UK
Usually yes — but each person is underwritten separately, so adding someone does not extend your terms to them.
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Can I cancel private health insurance and get money back?
Within the cooling-off period, yes, in full. After that it depends on whether you have claimed.
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Can I choose my own consultant on private health insurance?
Within the insurer's list, usually — and outside it, you pay the difference. Answered from the current UK policy wording we hold, with the source quoted.
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Can I claim for treatment I have already paid for? | UK
Sometimes, but authorisation was supposed to happen first, and going ahead without it is the usual reason a valid claim gets refused.
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Can I get a second opinion on private health insurance? | UK
On some policies yes, paid in full — and it is one of the few benefits that costs nothing to use.
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Can I hold two private health insurance policies at once?
You can, but you cannot claim the same cost twice, and the second policy is usually wasted money.
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Can I switch health insurer if I have a condition? | UK
Usually yes, but how you switch decides whether the condition travels with you or gets excluded again.
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Do I have to declare something I had years ago and forgot?
On full medical underwriting, yes — and the safest answer is to declare more than you think is needed.
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Do I need a referral for private mental health cover?
On most policies yes — Bupa is the exception, and it is a meaningful one. Answered from the current UK policy wording we hold, with the source quoted.
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Do I need the London hospital upgrade? | UK
Only if you would actually be treated in central London — and outside the M25 the answer is usually no.
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Do I need to get treatment authorised before I book it? | UK
Yes, almost always — and going ahead without it is the most avoidable way to turn a covered treatment into your own bill.
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Do private health insurance policies include a virtual GP?
Increasingly yes as standard — but it is the only primary care most policies touch.
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Does my private health insurance cover me on holiday abroad?
Almost certainly not. A UK medical policy and travel insurance do different jobs, and only one of them covers you in Spain.
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Does my private health insurance work abroad?
It stops being useful, and in at least one case the policy ends entirely. Answered from the current UK policy wording we hold, with the source quoted.
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Does private health insurance cover A&E or an emergency?
No. Emergencies are an NHS matter, and private cover picks up afterwards if at all.
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Does private health insurance cover IVF or pregnancy?
Almost never, and the exclusions are among the bluntest in any policy document.
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Does private health insurance cover NHS-refused drugs?
Sometimes, and the qualifying language is narrow enough to read carefully before you rely on it.
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Does private health insurance cover cancer aftercare?
This is where the chronic exclusion and cancer cover collide, and the answer depends heavily on which insurer you are with.
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Does private health insurance cover dental care?
Rarely as standard, usually as a bolt-on, and one insurer excludes it outright.
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Does private health insurance pay for a private MRI scan?
Usually yes, but only through the route the insurer sets — and the route is where claims fail rather than the scan itself.
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Does private health insurance pay for a prosthesis? | UK
Two insurers both cap it at £5,000, but they count the limit in completely different ways.
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How long after buying private health insurance can I claim?
Immediately for something new and unrelated — but three separate clocks can delay or block a claim.
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How many physio sessions does private cover pay for?
Fewer than most people expect, and the cap is usually counted in sessions rather than pounds.
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How much does a private knee replacement cost in the UK?
Around £15,000 at the hospitals publishing prices, with robotic assistance adding roughly £2,300.
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How no-claims discounts work on private cover
Like a car policy in principle — but which claims count against it varies enough to change the maths.
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Is a health cash plan better than private health insurance?
They solve different problems, and for routine costs the cash plan is usually the better buy.
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Is a newborn covered by private health insurance?
No, and one insurer ties its new-baby payment to how long you have held the policy.
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Is a private health insurance excess per claim or year?
Per policy year on every policy we hold — which makes a higher excess cheaper than it first looks.
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Is company-paid private health insurance taxable?
For an employee, yes — the premium is a taxable benefit. For the company it is usually an allowable expense, which is why the arrangement persists.
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Is private health insurance worth it if I'm self-employed?
The calculation is different from an employee's, because the cost of waiting is income you do not earn.
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Is the six-week NHS option worth taking? | UK
It cuts the premium meaningfully, and it removes cover precisely when the NHS is quick — which is not the same as when treatment is minor.
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Moratorium or full medical underwriting?
Full underwriting tells you where you stand immediately. A moratorium keeps the question open, sometimes to your advantage.
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My claim was declined — how do I challenge it? | UK
There is a formal ladder, it is free, and the deadline that matters is six months from the insurer's final response.
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Private health insurance with a pre-existing condition
You can get a policy. You usually cannot get that condition covered, and the two are constantly confused.
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What 'acute condition' means in health insurance
It is the single definition the whole product turns on, and it is defined by what it excludes rather than what it covers.
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What actually happens when I make a claim? | UK
Referral, authorisation, treatment, then the insurer pays the hospital directly — and the order matters more than any other part of it.
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What does 'extended cancer cover' add? | UK
It extends cover past the point where standard cancer benefits usually stop — which is the point most people care about.
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What does an out-patient limit actually cap? | UK
More than consultations — and on at least one policy, choosing a lower one silently removes cover you would never connect to it.
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What happens if I claim in the first year? | UK
A valid claim is a valid claim — but three separate rules make early claims more likely to be refused than later ones.
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What happens to private health insurance when I retire? | UK
Employer cover ends, personal cover gets more expensive, and the switch between them is where conditions get excluded.
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What is 'guided care' and why is it cheaper? | UK
You give up the choice of consultant, and the insurer passes back some of what that saves.
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What is a hospital list, and does a restricted one matter?
It is the set of hospitals the insurer will pay for, and choosing a smaller one is the most common way to cut a premium without noticing what you gave up.
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What is an NHS amenity bed, and does insurance pay for one?
A private room on an NHS ward. Some policies pay for it, and the six-week option is the thing most likely to remove that.
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What is the NHS cash benefit actually worth? | UK
Between £70 and £200 a night depending on insurer, and it is the benefit most often forgotten at the moment it applies.
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When is the NHS wait long enough for private cover?
The insurers have already answered this with a number: four or six weeks, depending on the product.
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Why has my private health insurance jumped at renewal?
Age, medical inflation and your claims history all push in the same direction — and the levers to pull back are structural, not negotiable.
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Why private hospital prices vary so much
Because you are not comparing the same thing, even when the procedure name matches exactly.
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Why won't private health insurance cover my condition?
Because the product is built for problems that resolve, and every UK insurer we hold wording for excludes the ones that do not.
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Will private cover pay for tests before a diagnosis?
Usually yes — and this is exactly where a low out-patient limit does the most damage.
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Will private health insurance pay for cosmetic surgery? | UK
No, and the exclusions are drawn widely enough to catch reconstructive work people assume is medical.