What private medical insurance gives you
Private medical insurance (PMI) pays for private treatment of eligible conditions that arise after your cover starts. In practical terms, that means faster access to diagnosis, your choice of specialist and hospital, a private room rather than a ward, and treatment arranged around your diary. The NHS remains superb in an emergency (PMI isn’t a replacement for it), but for the scans, consultations and planned operations where waiting is the painful part, private cover changes the experience completely.
For the landlords and business owners I work with, the appeal is rarely luxury. It’s arithmetic. Nobody else chases your arrears, signs off the refurb or wins the next contract while you wait months for a consultation. The faster you’re diagnosed and treated, the faster you’re back at the helm, and the less a health problem costs you beyond the health problem itself.
Underwriting, explained simply
PMI generally won’t cover pre-existing conditions, and the underwriting type determines how the insurer handles your medical history. There are two main approaches:
- Moratorium underwriting: you don’t fill in a detailed medical questionnaire. Instead, conditions you’ve had in recent years (typically the last five) are excluded to begin with, but can become eligible for cover later if you go a sustained period without symptoms, treatment or advice for them. Quick to set up; the trade-off is some uncertainty until a claim is assessed.
- Full medical underwriting: you declare your medical history upfront, and the insurer tells you exactly what’s excluded from day one. More paperwork at the start, but you know precisely where you stand before you ever claim.
Neither is universally better. It depends on your history and how much certainty you want. It’s one of the first things I’ll help you weigh up.
Keeping the premium sensible
PMI is one of the most adjustable policies there is. If a full-fat plan looks expensive, there are several dials worth turning before giving up on the idea:
- Excess levels: agreeing to pay the first portion of any claim yourself trims the premium, just like car insurance.
- Six-week options: the insurer only pays for private treatment if the NHS can’t see you within six weeks. You keep private cover for the long waits, which is when you most want it, at a lower cost.
- Hospital lists: choosing a smaller network of hospitals, or one without the most expensive central London facilities, can cut premiums meaningfully.
- Outpatient limits: capping cover for consultations and diagnostic tests, while keeping full cover for inpatient treatment where the big bills live.
Bear in mind that premiums also reflect your age, health and lifestyle, typically rise as you get older and as medical costs inflate, and every plan comes with its own terms, conditions and eligibility rules. PMI has no cash-in value: you’re buying access and peace of mind, not an investment.
Running your business through a limited company? Your company can pay for PMI for directors and staff. The premiums are generally an allowable business expense, but company-paid cover is normally a benefit-in-kind, so there’s usually personal tax to account for. The sums often still stack up well, but tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and can change, so please run the numbers past your accountant or tax adviser before deciding who pays.
Cover for the whole household, or the whole team
PMI doesn’t have to stop with you. Partners and children can usually be added to a personal plan, and small business plans can cover a handful of employees, a benefit that genuinely helps with recruiting and keeping good people, and gets your team back to work faster when something goes wrong. If you employ staff in a trading business alongside your property company, it’s worth pricing both routes.
How I help
I’ll talk through what you actually want covered (and what you’re happy to leave to the NHS), then compare policies across leading insurers, using the excess, hospital list and outpatient dials to land on a plan that fits your budget. I’m paid commission by the insurer if you take out a policy, and I’ll always disclose it.