Family Health Insurance

With potentially long NHS waiting lists it makes sense to consider private health insurance for your family.

Family Medical Insurance allows you and your family to receive quality healthcare at the UK’s leading hospitals and at times most important to you.

With a large range of plans on offer there should be something to fit with every family requirement and budget.

The NHS

Although the National Health Service (NHS) does a fantastic job given the tight resources available, it can sometimes struggle to provide fast care to those who need it.

In the first quarter of 2017, 17,000 people on the NHS waiting list for diagnostic appointments had been waiting more than 6 weeks and 18,752 operations were cancelled.

It is often difficult to prioritise the many areas of family expenditure but many would find it difficult to argue against health being the most important aspect of family life.

Even the most basic Family Health Insurance plans provide full cover for inpatient and day-patient treatment.

This means that if anything serious happens that requires a hospital bed or an overnight hospital stay you can rest assured that the necessary healthcare is there when you need it.

Most Family Medical Insurance plans also provide around-the-clock visiting hours and parent accommodation so you can stay close by when your children require treatment.

The right policy will be different for every family because each family will have different needs and a different budget.

Although all Family Medical Insurance plans cover the cost of inpatient and day-patient healthcare in full, the cover provided for outpatient and additional healthcare benefits does vary considerably from plan to plan.

In this sense it is important to consider your options and select a plan that meets the needs of your family most.

Generally speaking, the more comprehensive the plan the more outpatient treatment and additional benefits included in the health cover, although even the most basic plans include some important additional family benefits.

Parent Accommodation

An important benefit is parent accommodation, where parents are provided a room so they can stay close by whilst their child undergoes treatment. Plans will provide parent accommodation for children in hospital, often up until that child is 16.

Routine Dental and Optical Benefit

Some Family Health Insurance plans also provide the option of including routine dental and optical cover to your policy for an additional premium.

Other Family Medical Benefits

There are many other benefits available, deciding on which additional benefits to include will depend on your families demographic. The options to consider from usually consist of osteopathy, homeopathy, oral surgery, home nursing, parent accommodation and the use of a private ambulance.

The cost of a Private Health Insurance policy is going to be different for everyone because often your personal circumstances will influence the cost. In particular, these three factors will have a notable affect on your policy’s premiums:

Age

The first and one of the most significant factors is age. Family Medical Insurance is an annually reviewable contract, which means each year the insurer has the right to review the premiums you are paying.

Unfortunately with age we tend to get more aches and pains and inevitably require more treatment.

The older you are the greater the chance of you claiming on the policy and the more expensive your premiums.

Smoking

Other personal factors we have more control over include whether we smoke and our exercise patterns. We all know the risks associated with smoking and thus you face inflated premiums should you have used tobacco products in the past 12 months.

It is understandable that parents want the best healthcare for their children, partner and themselves. However, not everyone is able to afford the Best Health Insurance policies on the market.

One of the most effective ways to reduce the cost of a Medical Insurance policy is to, first of all, limit the level of outpatient cover. However, limiting outpatient cover will reduce how comprehensive the policy is.

There a few other options that you can take advantage of to reduce your monthly premiums.

Excess

It is possible to add an excess to your family plan which can reduce premiums significantly. For example, premiums could be reduced by around 10% with an excess of £200.

Six Week Wait Options

With the Six Week Wait option you agree to take inpatient treatment on the NHS if the waiting list is below 6 weeks. Otherwise you would go private straightaway. Including this option could reduce premiums by around 20%.

Reduced Hospital List

Another option to help you achieve affordable family health insurance cover is to choose a reduced or local hospital list. A reduced hospital list usually means limiting your hospital list to private wards of NHS hospitals.