The calculation is different from an employee's, because the cost of waiting is income you do not earn.

What the policy documents actually say

An employee waiting for treatment usually keeps being paid. Someone self-employed often does not, which changes what speed is worth. That is the real case for cover in this situation, rather than the quality of private treatment.

The structural point is that cover must be arranged while you are well. Every insurer whose wording we hold excludes conditions you already have symptoms of — Freedom Private Health Insurance names a five-year look-back explicitly — so the policy has to predate the problem it is meant to solve.

On cost control, the levers are the same as anyone else's but the trade-offs differ. A high excess is easier to justify when the alternative is weeks of lost income: Aviva's tiers run £100 to £5,000, applied once per policy year rather than per claim. WPA's Shared Responsibility, where you pay 25% of eligible claims to a chosen ceiling, spreads the same risk differently.

Out-patient limits deserve more attention than usual. Diagnosis happens out-patient, and a £500 cap can be exhausted before anyone establishes what is wrong — leaving you no faster than the NHS route despite paying premiums. Aviva's reduced limits of £500 or £1,000 also remove cover for pregnancy complications and dental surgery, which is easy to miss.

Whether it is worth it comes down to a number only you have: what a month unable to work actually costs, against a premium you pay every year whether you claim or not.

Questions to put to the insurer or broker

  • What would a month off work cost me?
  • Is the out-patient limit enough to complete a diagnosis?
  • Does a higher excess make sense given my cash flow?

Related questions

Sources

  • Source: Aviva — Healthier Solutions Terms and conditions (2025-04), 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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