If you’re a UK or Irish national who usually lives in the UK permanently and you’re going to work as an au pair or nanny in an EU country or Switzerland, you can apply for a UK GHIC. If you started your course after 1 January 2021, or you’re planning to study in an EU country, you’ll need to apply for a Student GHIC. You will not be able to use this card for treatment in Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein unless one of these countries is your country of study. You can apply for a new card up to 6 months before your current card expires. Before going abroad, make sure you check the latest COVID-19 travel guidance on GOV.UK. We’ll show you what they are and how to get a cheap policy.

You can request private medical diagnosis at one of the hospitals in our diagnostic network for symptoms for which you have been referred by your NHS GP. We manage our funds and the services we provide carefully to ensure that we can continue to provide assistance to members who require our support. That hasn’t, and won’t, change in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic we find ourselves in. Download your guide to Benenden Healthcare which explains all the services provided with our healthcare – what’s included and excluded and how you access them. Therefore, it is likely there could be a potential delay in accessing appointments. We’re a member owned organisation looking after our membership of over 820,000 members.

What Are The Benefits Of Private Health Insurance?

For example if you want to be covered for consultations with a specialist, you’ll need to select the outpatient option. Our members can choose a private hospital from our Directory of Hospitals at a time and place convenient to them. This means they can put all their energy into getting better, knowing the rest is taken care of.

• If you are unsure about whether membership is suitable for you, you should seek independent advice.
• This is just a quick overview of the process of buying private healthcare insurance.
• You will usually pay a monthly fee and then make claims for any eligible private healthcare you receive.

To request access to our services please click on one of the links below. Members may become actively involved in how the Society is run by attending branch meetings. If you work or have worked as a civil servant you can choose which branch you belong to. If you belong to one of our national branches but would prefer to join a branch nearer home, you can transfer to a local branch.

Private Health Insurance Companies We Work With

We will not pay for treatment that has not been established as being effective or which is experimental. You are not covered for complications that arise as a result of unauthorised, unproven or experimental treatment. If you leave and later re-join the scheme, your moratorium underwriting (where pre-existing conditions are not covered) will begin anew from the date you re-join. Your membership of the insurance scheme will continue through maternity leave, other family leave, or any other period of statutory pay or unpaid leave (e.g. unpaid sabbatical). If you sign up to this PHC scheme, only new conditions from the inception of this policy would be covered . All hospitals in PHC’s directory of hospitals are located in the UK.

It’s always best to do as much research as possible into what is offered by different insurance companies and what their different products cover when it comes to medical treatment. You can tailor medical insurance to your exact circumstances. So, whether you’re single or married, with or without children, you can cover the people who are important to you.

It is also common for people to have health insurance, whether personal or corporate, but not use it. There are many reasons for this , but in most cases it’s best to take advantage of insurance if you have it. Private healthcare refers to hospitals and clinics that are not run by the NHS. Some of them do work very closely with the NHS, but they are run independently. You might also hear private hospitals referred to as independent hospitals. Customer Online is our online portal designed with you in mind.

You can choose to opt out by at least one calendar month before your renewal date. However, like any other ‘pre-existing condition’ you may find the policy excludes treatment that’s needed because of that disability. But it must be fair and reasonable for the insurer to do this. Generally speaking, a new policy will not cover you for problems that you have now or have had in the past. However, insurers are becoming increasingly flexible in their approach to covering individuals and do ask that in this situation you contact them and they will discuss the various options available to you. PMI tends to cover ‘acute’ conditions, which means diseases, illnesses or injuries that are likely to respond quickly to treatment, returning you to the state of health you enjoyed previously.