Between £70 and £200 a night depending on insurer, and it is the benefit most often forgotten at the moment it applies.

What the policy documents actually say

It pays out when you have treatment on the NHS that the policy would otherwise have covered privately. Aviva pays £100 each night for up to 30 nights. WPA runs a tiered version capped at £4,500 a year: £150 per day or night for day-patient and stays under three nights, £200 a night from three nights, and £150 a day for out-patient scans and procedures. Bupa splits cancer out entirely, with three separate NHS cancer cash benefits covering in-patient treatment, out-patient and home treatment, and oral drug treatment.

The decision it exists for is a real one. If the NHS can treat you promptly and well, taking that route and claiming the cash benefit can leave you better off than using the private cover — particularly for straightforward procedures where the private advantage is speed rather than outcome.

Two catches. First, the six-week option removes it: Aviva's wording strips the NHS cash benefit and NHS cancer cash benefit from anyone who took that discount. Second, it is paid per night, so day-case treatment earns little or nothing on some policies.

Hospice and end-of-life benefits work on the same cash principle. AXA Health donates £100 a night directly to a registered hospice providing end-of-life care, including hospice-at-home; Aviva pays £70 a day up to 10 days.

Nobody claims this automatically. It is paid on request, and people in the middle of NHS treatment rarely think to ask their insurer for money.

Questions to put to the insurer or broker

  • Does my policy include it, or did the six-week option remove it?
  • Is it paid per night, per day, or per admission?
  • What is the annual cap?

Related questions

Sources

  • Source: Aviva — Healthier Solutions Terms and conditions (2025-04), read 4 September 2026.
  • Source: AXA Health — Personal Health membership handbook, October 2024, read 4 September 2026.
  • Source: Bupa policy guide — Bupa By You health insurance (BINS 14718) (2024), read 4 September 2026.
  • Source: WPA — Private Medical Insurance — Insurance Product Information Document (Complete Health) (2025-11), read 4 September 2026.

The limit behind every answer here

None of this reaches a condition you already have. Cover is written for problems that arise after it starts, so anything you have symptoms of when you apply is excluded — permanently under full medical underwriting, or until a symptom-free period has passed under a moratorium. Chronic conditions are excluded by every insurer whose wording we hold. Figures quoted come from current policy documents and change at renewal, so check the document you are actually offered.

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