What Is The 6 Week Wait Option On My Private Health Insurance?
Question asked by Mike Thomas
I have a Health Insurance policy I took out a few years ago and was wondering where I stand given the spread of coronavirus in the UK. Would I be entitled to treatment in a private hospital as I’ve had for other conditions should I develop coronavirus?
Health Insurance pays the bill for private medical treatment in a private hospital setting.
However, the situation with coronavirus is new and very different from what private hospitals are set up to provide in the UK.
Private hospitals don’t have onsite Accident & Emergency Departments, for instance, which may be a crucial component in your care if you develop severe symptoms having contracted the virus.
Moreover, emergency care isn’t covered by Private Health Insurance and you’d need to use the NHS for it anyway.
NHS hospitals are much more geared up to provide supportive treatment and stem the spread of the infection, with ready access to intensive care beds and isolation units, as well as other infectious disease control measures.
Given that you’ll need treatment in isolation from other patients and with proper infection control measures, the NHS is much better set up to provide than any private hospital operating in the UK.
As such, your Health Insurance is not only unlikely to cover coronavirus, but you’ll find yourself in better and more capable hands under the NHS.
What you may receive depending on your insurer and your policy is a fixed lump sum for each night spent in an NHS hospital with the illness, although whether this applies to you will depend on your policy’s terms.