What is private medical insurance?

Private medical insurance or PMI, also called private health insurance, is designed to cover the often astronomical costs of medical treatment. A monthly premium is paid to the insurance company, and the policy insures against the medical bills (i.e. the insurance policy pays the bill so you don’t have to). This includes not only the cost of any treatment but also hospitalisation costs.

You mention that the premiums above need to be paid – how much will these be?

The actual premium is determined by your age and various health-related factors, such as smoker status, weight in relation to height and risks associated with your current lifestyle or employment.

Why private medical insurance?

With the NHS the story is often the same; “it will be 2 years before I get treatment” or “this ward is filthy and smells bad” and the attention given to patients can be less than is necessary due to understaffing.

Private hospitals give you superior service in terms of high-speed diagnosis and treatment, and strive to ensure all stays are as comfortable as possible for in-patients. Going private without insurance is often monstrously expensive; indeed, in the United States, where there is no state health system, medical costs are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

Private medical insurance covers those expenses so you don’t need to worry about where you’ll find the money to pay for treatment.

Do you represent one specific insurer, a group of insurers or cover the entire market?

We are not tied to any single company or any group – we are completely independent and check the entire market when providing a list of quotes.

What about pre-existing conditions? I’ve heard about stories where a claim was denied because the claimant’s illness was related to a condition they had when they took the policy out.

Nowadays, it is possible for pre-existing conditions to be covered in medical insurance policies as long as the condition is revealed to the insurer and accepted by them. If you are able to have those pre-existing conditions covered, the insurer will pay out in the event of a valid claim against costs relating to that condition.

Back to private health insurance.