Private Health Insurance has become one of the most desired insurance policies in today’s world where the costs of various treatments are on rise and the time required for waiting for treatment through social insurance policies is less.

Health insurance policy is that type of policy where the insurer pays a certain amount for some covered sickness to you on the basis of a payment of a certain amount of premium at a monthly or annual basis.

Each insurer and each product has its own range of choices, and there are many different ways of describing the main areas covered. Among them the most common medical costs that are covered under private medical insurance are:

•hospital charges including accommodation costs

•consultants and specialists fees

•radiotherapy and chemotherapy

•physiotherapy

•psychiatric treatment

•diagnostic tests

•scans

Other benefits include nursing at home, private ambulance, recuperative care, complementary therapies, alternative medicines, chiropody, parent accommodation, dental surgery, pregnancy consultations and tests etc.

There are some conditions where even after long on-going treatments the patients are not recovered or they may need more on going treatments. This may happen with diseases like asthma, diabetes etc. A private medical insurance cannot cover the treatments for such conditions. These can be covered under NHS which is the public funded insurance provider in UK. No doubt NHS has done a great job in caring about the nation’s health, but due to the hectic schedule people hate to wait in long queues for treatment. Here comes the benefit of private Health care, and this can be easily done through private health insurance. But it should be kept in mind that it is not an alternative to NHS.

Most Private Medical Insurance does not cover the following:

•Drug Abuse

•HIV related illness

•Dental problems

•Infertility treatment

•Sterilization

•Cosmetic surgery (to solely enhance appearance)

•Recurrent long term illness (chronic conditions)

Personal medical insurance contracts are offered on an annual basis, with premiums paid monthly, quarterly or annually. Discounts are sometimes offered by many companies.

Apart from providing medical insurance for UK citizens, many insurance companies provide insurance policies to foreigners or to the citizens of UK who have gone to foreign countries either for business, travel or study. International medical insurance is also cheap and affordable.