Skip the wait. See a specialist in days, not months.
Private medical cover pays for diagnosis and treatment in private UK hospitals, so you choose when and where you're seen instead of joining a queue.
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Straight answers to the questions UK households ask most about private medical insurance — what it costs, what it covers and how claims work.
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Private medical insurance (PMI) is a UK health policy that pays for the diagnosis and treatment of new, acute conditions in private hospitals. You see your NHS GP or a virtual GP first, get a referral, then the insurer authorises treatment and settles the bill directly with the hospital. You keep full access to the NHS throughout.
UK private medical insurance typically starts from around £28 a month for a healthy adult in their thirties on a guided-hospital-list plan with a £250 excess. Premiums rise with age, postcode, hospital list and the extras you add, so a family plan for two adults and two children more commonly falls between £120 and £220 a month.
Usually not at the start, but the underwriting type matters. Moratorium underwriting can bring some conditions back into cover after two consecutive symptom-free years, while full medical underwriting tells you up front exactly what is excluded. Your adviser will explain which route suits your medical history.
Yes. Private medical insurance sits alongside the NHS rather than replacing it — you can use either at any time. A&E, maternity care, chronic condition management and GP services remain NHS services, and some insurers pay you a cash benefit for each night you choose NHS treatment instead.
Raising the excess to £500, choosing a guided or local hospital list, adding a six-week NHS wait option, or dropping outpatient cover to a capped limit each reduce the premium noticeably. Paying annually rather than monthly usually saves a further few per cent.
Comprehensive UK policies cover cancer diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and often drugs not routinely funded by the NHS. Cover levels vary a great deal between insurers, so the adviser compares full cancer cover against capped or NHS-plus options before recommending a policy.
Most members get a consultant appointment within a few working days of authorisation, compared with an average NHS elective wait of over 14 weeks. Diagnostics such as MRI and CT scans are commonly booked within a week.