Health Insurance Explained
What is Health Insurance?
Health Insurance or Private Medical Insurance(PMI) is designed to cover the costs of Private Medical Treatment for curable short-term illness or injury. These are commonly known as acute conditions.
PMI focuses on covering the Hospital Treatment that you would receive once you have been referred by your GP. There are some aspects of the NHS that this insurance is not designed to replace - for example Accident and Emergency services are beyond the scope of most private hospitals.
Follow this link for an independent guide on buying Health Insurance.
Health Insurance treatment is categorised in the following way:
In-Patient Treatment
Treatment which requires the patient to stay in hospital overnight or longer.
Day-Patient Treatment
Treatment which for medical reasons requires you to be admitted to hospital because you require a period of clinically supervised recovery, but you do not
have to stay overnight.
Out-Patient Treatment
Treatment given at a hospital, consulting room or out-patient clinic where you do not go in for Day-Patient or In-Patient treatment
See 'Choosing the Right Cover' for details on which levels of cover offer the above levels of treatment.
The Benefits of Health Insurance
Health Insurance often offers you the flexibility of choosing when you receive treatment, the hospital to be treated at and even which specialist treats you! As a private patient you will usually have the privacy of an en-suite room complete with TV and other home comforts.
Here is a list of the key benefits that Health Insurance can offer:
• Avoidance of long NHS waiting times
• Choice of Hospital
• Choice of a Specialist
• Choice in timing of treatment
• Higher nurse to patient ratio
• Greater patient privacy
• Greater flexibility of visiting hours
In Summary PMI allows you to receive timely and efficient treatment, taking the stress out of your hospital stay.
Follow this link for information on choosing the right level of cover.
