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What is medical insurance?

ended 28. February 2025

A journalist on the Daily Telegraph is looking for expert comment on private medical insurance.

She wants answers to the following questions:

1/ How does medical insurance work? 

2/ How do you get cheap medical insurance?

3/ Can you get medical insurance for pre-existing conditions in your 60s, 70s, 80s?

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Private medical insurance offers a high degree of flexibility, allowing individuals to tailor their coverage based on their budget and specific healthcare needs. By adjusting excess levels, policyholders can influence their premiums, while selecting preferred hospitals ensures access to the right care. Coverage can also be customised to include mental health support, varying levels of outpatient treatment, and different tiers of cancer care. Additionally, policyholders can choose from different underwriting options, such as full medical or moratorium underwriting, to suit their circumstances. All these options can influence the premium so it is important to consider all your options. Like all insurance policies, it is also important to review existing policies to make sure they are still fit for purpose.
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Premium
Chris Steele
Founder at myTribe Insurance
Private medical insurance covers some or all of the cost of private medical treatment. Precisley what's incldued depends on your insurer, policy and budget.

Many people see it as a way to "skip the queues", but, most insurers offer far more than mere hospital treatment.

For example, several include a level of talking therpaies in thier core products, with others it's physio therapy. Most if not all, also offer a "Virtual GP" so members can speak to a GP 24/7 and get the medical input they need quickly.

Comprehensive cover often includes a level of outpatient diagnostics, so you can be diagnosed privately as well as treated.

Contrary to popular belief, not all pre-existing medical condtions are excluded, it depends on your underwriting, which you choose, and when the condition occured.

It's a complicated product, not made easier with lots of options from the providers, and why we set up myTribe to give people access to impartial information and learn more about it.