Choosing a Medical Insurance Policy

Choosing between policies is not as easy as it once was. Although there is no one "best" policy, there are some policies that will be better than others for you and your family's health needs. Policies differ, both in how much you have to pay and how easy it is to get the services you need. Although no policy will pay for all the costs associated with your medical care, some policies will cover more than others.

Almost all policies today have ways to reduce unnecessary use of healthcare—and keep down the costs of healthcare, too. This may affect how easily you get the care you want, but should not affect how easily you get the care you need.

Policies change from year to year, so you should carefully consider each policy, using the questions outlined in this page. If you get health insurance where you work, you should start with your employee benefits office. Its staff should be able to tell you what is covered under the policies available. You can also call Premier Healthcare Direct directly to ask questions.

If you are self-employed or if your company does not offer group policies, you may need to buy individual health insurance. Individual policies cost more than group policies.

Some organizations—such as unions, professional associations, or social or civic groups—offer health policies for members. You may want to talk to us with regards to this as there are substantial discounts to be gained from becoming a member of Medical Insurance Scheme.

Pre-Existing Conditions

A pre-existing condition is a medical condition diagnosed or treated before joining a new policy. In the past, health care given for a pre-existing condition often has not been covered for someone who joins a new policy until after a waiting period.

If you have a pre-existing condition and require advice, please do not hesitate to contact us where we will be pleased to offer any advice.

Most policies provide basic medical cover, but the details are what counts. The best policy for someone else may not be the best policy for you. For each policy you are considering, find out how it handles:

In choosing a policy, you have to decide what is most important to you. All policies have tradeoffs. Ask yourself these questions:

You might also want to think about whether the services a policy offers meet your needs.

Consider:

After you review what benefits are available and decide what is important to you, you can compare policies. Many things should be considered. These include services offered, choice of providers, location, and costs. The quality of care is also a factor to think about.

Services

Choice

Location

Costs

A single hospital stay for a serious condition could cost thousands of pounds.

You can't know in advance what your health care needs for the coming year will be. But you can guess what services you and your family might need. Figure out what the total costs to your family would be for these services under each policy.

Quality is hard to measure, but more and more information is becoming available. As a specialist intermediary, Premier Healthcare Direct ONLY deal with those insurers who have a proven track record pertaining to quality of service and products.

Finally, you can talk to current members of the policy. Ask how they feel about their experiences, such as waiting times for appointments, the helpfulness of staff, the services offered, and the care received.