Last updated: 23/07/2020 | Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Child health insurance
Taking out a private medical insurance policy that covers your child in the event that they fall ill can provide you with much needed peace of mind.
We’ll go over the kind of cover you can expect from a child health insurance policy, and how to go about getting the best policies around in this short guide.
In This Guide:
- What is child health insurance?
- Why should I take out health insurance for my children?
- Types of cover
- Things to bear in mind
What is child health insurance?
Here in the UK, we benefit from a National Health Service that means we are all entitled to free health care in the event that we fall ill.
However, by paying a little to take out a private medical insurance policy, you can benefit from things like shorter waiting times and the ability to pick and choose the medical professional who handles your case, within reason.
Child health insurance policies come in a range of shapes and sizes offering different levels of cover but what they all have in common is the fact that you know that if anything does happen to you child, you can guarantee that they will receive expert treatment in a timely fashion.
Why should I take out health insurance for my children?
Child health insurance policies allow you to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from the knowledge that should anything happen to your kids, they will be seen as soon as possible by an expert healthcare professional of your choosing.
You are, of course, entitled to the same treatment on the NHS, but you may find that your child is low down on a waiting list and they may not benefit from as personalised a service as they would if they were covered by a specialised child health insurance plan.
Types of cover
Health insurance is a relatively broad church, with the level of cover you receive increasing in line with the price (as a general rule). That being said, you needn’t pay over the odds for a high level of cover; simply compare plans online and you’ll be able to find one that gives you the protection you need at an affordable price.
You should be careful to differentiate between policies that offer full inpatient and day patient cover (for when your child is actually in hospital) and those that will offer additional outpatient cover, paying for any extra treatment your child might require after leaving hospital, like extra physiotherapy for example. .
Aside from conventional PMI plans, where you pay a monthly premium and an excess in the event of treatment, you could also opt for a cash plan to cover you child.
With a cash plan, you pay a small monthly premium and then you will be paid out a small sum in the event of a claim to cover simple treatment like visits to a dentist or chiropodist (for example).
Things to bear in mind
Because of the wide range of different levels of cover available, the cost of your policy can vary greatly.
As well as the level of cover you pick, another thing that will affect the monthly cost of your policy is the level of voluntary excess you choose.
When you take out a child health insurance policy, you pay a regular monthly premium for the duration of the policy, and then when you come to make a claim, you will pay a certain amount of money (excess) before the insurance company start to foot the rest of the bill.
You decide on the level of excess at the opening of the policy and, as a general rule, the higher the voluntary excess, the lower your monthly premiums will be.
