What Questions Should I Ask When Choosing Private Health Insurance?

It is important to ask many questions and have a full understanding of the cover you require. All the homework will pay off once you get a package that is right for you and the consequences of lack of research or effort when choosing health cover could be very serious. Here are some suggestions for questions to think about, or to ask your insurer. Not all will apply to you, but it is important to have an idea of some of the things you need to discuss. Some typical questions might be:

What treatments will the policy cover?

This is vitally important. You may have gone into the quote with some conditions in mind that you particularly want covered.

What is the cost of the policy?

The cost that you are presented with may not be the full cost if you wish to pay monthly. Find out what the total will be and ask if there are any optional extras included as you may not need these.

How long does the policy last?

You may be looking for a long term care plan or for short term cover. Different insurance companies may specialise in different lengths of cover.

How is customer satisfaction with medical health insurance monitored?

This question may seem unnecessary when taking the policy out but if you do need to make a complaint you may suddenly see the relevance. You need to know what the process is if you are unhappy with your treatment or policy, and to find out in what kind of timescale the company deals with dissatisfaction. For example, if you thought that your cover included something it didn’t and had to pay out extra, but checking your documents saw that you were in fact covered, how quickly would the company be able to get your money back to you?

How does the insurer assess quality of treatment?

You might want to know on what criteria the insurance company measures the hospitals and clinics it uses. You might have a different idea of private health services to the company you are using!

Could your insurer offer the option of having treatment at home if this was possible?

For many people just having to go into a hospital is a stressful experience and not at all what they want to face when they are unwell. Some insurers may cover a doctor coming out to you, but there might be terms and conditions involved (ie only if you are physically unable to leave your house).

These are only a few of the basic questions, it is very important to ask your own questions based on your own requirements. The best way to compile a list of questions is to write down all your requirements and then check the policy and see if they are catered for. If those things are not on there they may be available as optional extras.

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