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Compare private health insurance quotes

Get covered for private medical treatment by taking out health insurance

Compare insurers that could offer in-patient treatment, a health advice helpline and a no claims discount.
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Imogen Bland
Last updated
December 2nd, 2025

Why compare health insurance with Money.co.uk?

The simple answer is it saves you time. We take a few of your key details and compare industry-leading health insurance providers.

We'll list the providers that could offer you health insurance - all you need to do then is pick the policy that meets your needs and budget.

Our partners offer these useful features in their health insurance policies:

  • Shorter waiting times

  • A choice of hospitals

  • Physiotherapy

  • Private rooms

  • Specialist referrals

  • Specialist treatments

  • A dedicated health helpline

You should see these features listed on the results page once you've completed your health insurance quote.

What is private medical insurance?

In the UK, we get healthcare for free thanks to the NHS. But private medical insurance offers some extra benefits (like private rooms and faster treatments) that the NHS can't always provide.

It's sometimes called health insurance, private healthcare, or medical insurance. We'll use these terms interchangeably throughout this page.

You can choose from 3 different levels of cover - basic, medium and comprehensive. The more comprehensive the policy, the more it covers.

For example, a basic policy covers inpatient treatment and hospital stays. Medium covers outpatient care as well as time in the hospital. Comprehensive includes all of this, plus cover for treatments such as physiotherapy.

We'll go into more detail about the types of cover later on in the page.

How much does private health insurance cost?

As with all types of insurance, the cost of private health insurance depends on a few different factors:

  • Your age - the price might increase every year as you age.

  • Your medical history - your insurer will want to know about pre-existing conditions. These are usually excluded from cover and could increase the price of your policy.

  • Your family medical history - any hereditary conditions might affect your own health.

  • Where you live - treatment in London, for example, is more expensive than other areas of the UK.

  • Your lifestyle - Smoking and excessive drinking can make your policy more expensive. If you exercise regularly and maintain a healthy lifestyle, your policy might be cheaper.

  • What you want to be covered for - you can choose certain cover for different types of treatment.

Is there an excess to pay on health insurance?

Typically, yes - you'll need to think about your private health insurance excess when considering the cost of your policy. The excess is an amount you pay towards a claim. You can set this yourself. The higher you set it, the lower your monthly payments are likely to be.

Some insurers apply this to a policy per year, but others can charge an excess per claim. Make sure you check your policy to understand how your health insurer charges an excess.

You can set your excess from £0 to £1,000 - it's up to you to choose. When you get health insurance quotes with us, you can set your excess at different levels and see how it affects your monthly costs. Remember, you should only set it at an amount you can afford to pay towards a claim.

The bottom line is that comparing policies is the best way to find cheaper health insurance without compromising on the cover you need.

What types of health insurance policies can I get?

Basic health insurance cover

This is the 'essentials' type of policy. It covers:

  • Inpatient treatment - surgery, hospital stays and specialist care once you're admitted are all covered.

  • Outpatient treatment - this is when you have surgery and head home on the same day.

  • Cancer treatment - even on basic policies, cancer treatment has good coverage.

Here's what is usually excluded:

  • Outpatient tests, like MRIs, blood tests, and ultrasounds (this has a set limit, for example £500, £1,000, £1,500)

  • Specialist consultations before a diagnosis

  • Mental health treatment, but limit support is sometimes included

  • Physiotherapy (unless it's connected to a surgery)

Medium health insurance cover

As you'd expect, this is mid-level cover. You get everything a basic policy offers, plus:

  • Outpatient diagnostics - for example, x-rays and ultrasounds - up to a certain amount

  • Specialist consultations - so a specialist consultation with a cardiologist, for example, would be covered

  • More generous coverage for therapies - for example, physio that's not just related to post-surgery. Osteopathy and chiropractic treatments are often covered too.

  • Better add-ons for mental health

  • A wider choice of hospitals

Comprehensive health insurance

This is the highest level of cover - it includes everything from the basic and medium policies, plus:

  • Unlimited outpatient diagnostics

  • Full access to specialists

  • Robust mental health cover

  • A wider choice of private hospitals

  • Routine therapies (physio, osteopathy, chiropractors)

  • Enhanced cancer support, for example, home nursing

  • Extras like health checks or digital GP services

Optional add-ons

There are also option add-ons to health insurance, like:

  • Dental cover

  • Eye cover

  • Travel cover or international care

  • Mental health upgrades

  • Therapy bundles

  • Hospital network upgrades

What types of health insurance policies can I get?

Basic health insurance cover

This is the 'essentials' type of policy. It covers:

  • Inpatient treatment - surgery, hospital stays and specialist care once you're admitted are all covered.

  • Outpatient treatment - this is when you have surgery and head home on the same day.

  • Cancer treatment - even on basic policies, cancer treatment has good coverage.

Here's what is usually excluded:

  • Outpatient tests, like MRIs, blood tests, and ultrasounds (this has a set limit, for example £500, £1,000, £1,500)

  • Specialist consultations before a diagnosis

  • Mental health treatment, but limit support is sometimes included

  • Physiotherapy (unless it's connected to a surgery)

Medium health insurance cover

As you'd expect, this is mid-level cover. You get everything a basic policy offers, plus:

  • Outpatient diagnostics - for example, x-rays and ultrasounds - up to a certain amount

  • Specialist consultations - so a specialist consultation with a cardiologist, for example, would be covered

  • More generous coverage for therapies - for example, physio that's not just related to post-surgery. Osteopathy and chiropractic treatments are often covered too.

  • Better add-ons for mental health

  • A wider choice of hospitals

Comprehensive health insurance

This is the highest level of cover - it includes everything from the basic and medium policies, plus:

  • Unlimited outpatient diagnostics

  • Full access to specialists

  • Robust mental health cover

  • A wider choice of private hospitals

  • Routine therapies (physio, osteopathy, chiropractors)

  • Enhanced cancer support, for example, home nursing

  • Extras like health checks or digital GP services

Optional add-ons

There are also option add-ons to health insurance, like:

  • Dental cover

  • Eye cover

  • Travel cover or international care

  • Mental health upgrades

  • Therapy bundles

  • Hospital network upgrades

Who can be covered on a health insurance policy?

You can choose to add people to your private healthcare policy. For example:

Single policy

This might just be for you, so you can tailor the policy to meet your needs.

Joint policies

You can add another person to your policy so you're both covered. This could be useful for couples.

Family policies

This covers your whole family under one policy. That means less admin, and it might give you some reassurance knowing the whole family is covered.

What about health insurance for pre-existing conditions?

A pre-existing condition is something you've had symptoms, treatment, or medical advice for in the last 5 years before buying a health insurance policy. That counts even if you've never had a formal diagnosis.

You can usually still buy health insurance if you have pre-existing conditions, but these conditions will typically be excluded from your cover. Some examples of pre-existing conditions include:

  • Heart disease

  • Stroke history

  • Cancer

  • Diabetes

  • Serious mental health conditions

  • Chronic conditions that need ongoing management (e.g., Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis)

  • Anything requiring regular medication or monitoring

How do pre-existing conditions affect underwriting?

When it comes to pre-existing conditions, you can choose from 2 different underwriting styles: moratorium or full medical underwriting. Here's more information on those:

Moratorium underwriting

This is the most common approach for most people.

With this type of underwriting, it automatically excludes any condition you've had in the past 5 years.

But they might cover it later if you go 2 continuous years on the policy without symptoms, treatment, medication or advice.

If you've got minor or resolved conditions, like joint pain, asthma, skin-related conditions or IBS that might settle later, this underwriting process might work for you.

If the condition keeps coming up, it will probably be excluded from the policy.

Full medical underwriting

Here, you declare everything upfront, and your insurer decides whether they cover it or not, or offer limited cover.

Your insurer will then exclude pre-existing conditions on your policy documents.

In some instances, your insurer might agree to cover pre-existing conditions if they're stable. That means you haven't needed treatment for the condition for a certain amount of time.

With this type of underwriting, you know where you stand with your cover from the start.

If something is excluded from your policy, it's excluded until renewal, when you can regnegotiate the cover.

Remember, even if a condition is excluded, you can still claim for new, unrelated health conditions.

For example, if you have asthma and then get a back injury, the treatment for your back should be covered.

Does health insurance include dental cover?

Not usually, but you can add it onto most health insurance policies. Or you can get dental cover separately.

Private dental insurance usually covers things like:

  • Check-ups, things like x-rays and a scale and polish

  • Routine treatments like fillings

  • Emergency procedures, like a crown or extraction, or pain relief

  • Major dental work like complex crowns or bridgework

Not all dental work is covered though. Here's what you might have to pay for yourself.:

  • Cosmetic or purely aesthetic work, like whitening or veneers

  • Implants

  • Pre-existing dental problems that you had before you bought your dental policy

  • Missed appointment fees

There are 2 different types of dental plan: dental-only and health cash plans. Both of these can help manage the cost of dental work that's covered on the policy.

The health cash plan is usually added to your existing health insurance policy. They're generally cheaper and have a smaller pot of money for dental work. You can also choose add-ons to cover treatment to your eyes, or physiotherapy too.

A dental add-on might work well if you don't have a history of dental issues. It can help cover the cost of the odd check-up and any routine treatment you might need.

Dental-only is a standalone dental policy. It's usually more expensive than adding it to your health insurance. But it covers more and has larger pots of money for dental work that's listed on the policy.

Dental-only is more comprehensive, so if you want more reassurance that more dental issues are covered, a standalone dental policy might be a better option.

Remember: you might have to pay an excess for a dental policy. Before you claim, make sure you check your excess first to see if it's worth claiming.

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About the author

Author imageImogen Bland
Imogen Bland
With three years of hands-on experience in the insurance industry, Imogen is the motor, home and lifestyle insurances expert at money.co.uk. She believes finding the right coverage shouldn't be a headache, and her primary mission is to break down complex policies into clear, actionable advice that results in real savings.

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The money.co.uk medical insurance comparison service is provided by Howden Life & Health. Howden Life & Health is a trading name of Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing Limited, which is part of the Howden Group, registered in England and Wales under company number 2248238, with its registered office at One Creechurch Place, London EC3A 5AF. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Register No. 312841). The Financial Services Register can be accessed through www.fca.org.uk.

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