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Private Health Insurance for Seniors

Private Health Insurance For Seniors

Private health insurance is the most effective way to ensure access to the widest range of medical treatments and prescriptions that are currently available in the UK.

Though the most common forms of health insurance are provided by employers as part of a benefits package for their business, it’s just as easy for senior citizens to find individual cover, at a reasonable price.

This article will focus on the areas that are relevant to seniors specifically, explaining everything you’ll need to know about the policies, from what exactly is covered, to the most useful benefits of paying for private insurance.

How can private health insurance help seniors?

Private health cover is most commonly provided by businesses as an employee benefit, but it’s likely that individuals will more frequently use the cover once they reach retirement. This is because senior citizens are more susceptible to experiencing serious medical conditions.

Though the NHS provides a reasonable level of medical care, opting for private cover can reduce the many sources of stress that can come along with using NHS services, such as the excessive waiting times for appointments.

These frustrations can become even harder for senior citizens, who may already be dealing with medical complications that can make it difficult to consistently attend appointments in person.

Private cover for seniors is intended for those who are already retired, but plans can also be provided for those who will be retiring in the near future. Most of the coverage is based around age brackets, such as over 50s or over 70s insurance.

What can the policies include?

The fundamentals of what is covered is generally the same for seniors as it is for any other form of private health insurance. The terms of the plans are usually flexible, and each provider offers varying levels of insurance

This guide will go into a lot more detail, but as a brief overview, most of the policies include:

  • In-patient cover
  • Day-patient cover
  • Optional out-patient cover
  • Acute medical conditions
  • Cancer treatments

Though private insurance covers most serious medical conditions, there are a few notable exceptions. Chronic or pre-existing medical conditions are generally not covered, as in many cases these issues are not treatable, or extremely complicated to do so.

Insurance for these kinds of conditions can occasionally be purchased as an additional benefit alongside an existing policy, but due to the factors that were mentioned previously, they are usually relatively expensive to include.

What benefits can seniors insurance offer?

There is a wide array of benefits that come with a private insurance plan. These benefits can offer a much wider range of options in terms of treatments, by allowing patients access to specialist drugs and prescriptions which are not available through the NHS.

The freedom of choice that is offered by these policies extends to many different areas, such as flexible booking policies for appointments, as well as allowing patients to decide which specialist they consult with and choose the private hospital they are treated at.

Private health cover can also provide access to private rooms in NHS hospitals, to offer patients a greater degree of comfort and privacy, which can be important for some senior citizens. Online GP sessions can also be helpful for older patients who suffer from mobility issues and struggle to make it out to appointments in person.

Those are just a few of the perks that private health insurance can provide for seniors, but there are many more that can be found within the different packages and policies that are offered by the various providers. Here at Hooray, we have private medical insurance specialists who can provide further information and advice, specific to an individual’s needs.

How much does the insurance cost?

Due to the highly flexible nature of private health insurance, the price of each policy can vary greatly, depending on a number of contributing factors, such as your age, general health and medical history.

The level of cover that you choose will also have a significant impact on the overall cost of the insurance. Generally speaking, the more options and supplementary benefits that you decide to include in your policy, the more expensive it will be.

Private health insurance is inherently more expensive for seniors than it is for younger citizens. This is because the costs paid out by the insurance providers are likely to be much higher, due to the frequency and the significance of medical conditions experienced by seniors.

How to find the best available cover

Private health insurance for seniors is a fairly niche area within the industry, which is why hiring an insurance broker can go a long way towards finding the cover that is best suited to your existing needs and conditions, at the best price available on the market.

Hooray Health & Protection are a friendly team of renowned health insurance professionals, with an extensive range of experience of the various products and providers that exist within the industry.

If you need help with finding a suitable seniors insurance policy, or if you have any questions about how the insurance policies work, don’t hesitate to reach out to us, our team is happy to help.

Charlie Cousins

Founder and Director of Hooray Health & Protection, Charlie Cousins has enjoyed a career in the insurance and financial services industry spanning over the last ten years.

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