Last updated: 23/07/2020 | Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Private medical insurance for families
The NHS has become somewhat infamous for its long waiting lists, one of the best ways to avoid this is by taking out a private health insurance plan. You can choose to take out an individual health insurance policy but many families are now choosing to take out family health insurance plans in order to reap the benefits that come with them. Family health insurance policies are a great way to give yourself peace of mind when it comes to making sure that you receive quick and quality care when you need it.
This guide will explain the benefits of family health insurance policies and what the key features of this kind of policy are likely to be.
In This Guide:
What do family health insurance policies cover?
There are a huge amount of different family health insurance policies available on the market and their level of cover will vary from plan to plan. However there are some things that most insurance policies will cover and some other things that may be offered as added extras.
Generally speaking, you can define private medical insurance as covering curable diseases, short term illnesses or injuries. Ailments that fall into this category are often referred to as "acute conditions" and most private medical insurance companies limit their level of cover to these.
The following things will be covered by most health insurance policies:
- Inpatient tests
- Surgery as either an inpatient or a day patient
- Nursing care and hospital accommodation
- Cash reimbursements for treatment provided by the NHS as an inpatient
Some PMI plans will also cover:
- Tests for outpatients
- Consultations or treatment with a specialist as an outpatient
- Physiotherapy or other forms of therapy
The things that are listed above are only given as a general rule and may not apply to all policies. For this reason it is important to check the small print of your policy first to make sure that you are fully aware of what level of cover you are going to be provided with.
There are also many family health insurance plans that offer visiting hours around the clock and also some form of parental accommodation, so that you can stay nearby if your children are taken ill.
Optional cover
There a few different optional extras that you can add to your family health insurance plan if you wanted to extend the level of your cover. These include things such as dental or optical cover and will allow you to be reimbursed for your routine dental checks and eye tests.
There are other options such as physiotherapy cover, which will provide protection in the event that you or anybody in your family requires that form of treatment. This can be particularly useful as it is not provided by the NHS and could be a good investment if you or your children play sports on a regular basis.
Another option that you could choose to go for is home nursing cover. This form of cover will provide you or your family member with care at home that will be provided by a qualified nurse. This can be extremely helpful if you want to make sure that there is somebody around to aid your family member's recovery and you won't be able to guarantee time off of work.
