How to Ensure You Are Getting Your Moneys Worth When Buying Health Insurance

Unfortunately we are not all in employment which provides health insurance cover as part of our package, so what are the options? We lump it and deal with the NHS and its waiting lists or we make alternative arrangements, an affordable health insurance plan.The companies we work for may well seem to have a bottomless pit for a budget however most of us mere mortals have to scrimp and save and watch every penny. Thus when we consider health insurance we need to ensure we are getting the best cover for the price and consider all the options available.Why do we choose private health insurance? Many of us turn to health insurance for peace of mind; having health cover means we can receive treatment when we need it and we can be treated in pleasant surroundings with some added benefits, television, internet and round the clock visiting hours. The products available can vary widely, a no frills basic plan may only cover inpatient treatment where comprehensive health insurance may well cover every ache and pain, including cover for the alternative medicine, emergency dental treatment and home nursing. Where there is such a range in the level of cover you can expect a huge range in price.When considering health cover it is important to recognise both the personal factors and plan factors that will affect your monthly premiums. As with any insurance you should review the whole market, by getting quotes from a range of providers you can get an idea of those who are competitive and those who provide a good service. Insurers underwrite policies differently so you may find one insurer offering you cheaper rates than others as they see you as lower risk.You can probably guess the personal factors which will have an affect your premiums, age is an important factor although unfortunately one we cannot control, as we grow older so our need for treatment increases and in turn so will our medical insurance premiums.Smokers not only get hit with the ever increasing costs of tobacco but also with inflated health cover premiums. We can all read cigarette packets, we know the health risks associated with smoking and so do the insurers. Most insurers define a smoker as any person who has used tobacco products in the past 12 months.Being an exercise junky can pay dividends not only when it comes to your health but also when it comes to your insurance premiums. Those of you who lead an active lifestyle and regular exercise are looked upon favourably by insurers and tend to be offered discounted rates.Enough of the personal factors let us look at the factors you can control your policy options. One of the most important options to consider is the level of outpatient cover. The level cover provided and the price of a policy stem from the level of outpatient cover, the more outpatient cover your policy provides the more expensive the premiums. Treatment with outpatient cover includes consultations, x-rays and the like and tends to be the area most costly to the insurers. By reducing you outpatient cover your monthly premiums will drop in line, there can be as much as a 35% difference in premiums with no outpatient cover to those with full cover.By choosing an optional excess you are essentially agreeing to pay a proportion of the claim with per policy year or per claim and can be useful tool in reducing those monthly premiums. An excess can range from anywhere as low as fifty pounds up to well over one thousand pounds. Take a one-hundred pound excess, you could expect to pay roughly 5% less in premiums.Hospital lists are another way of making the most of your budget, let us assume you life way outside of London and never have a use for hospitals in the capital. Some providers have a scale for hospitals you can receive treatment in, often one of these options is for London and Premier hospitals, these hospitals are more expensive to run and thus add to your premiums. If you know they are going to be of no use to you then it may well be worth opting out of these hospitals and saving on your premiums.With any insurance there is always a lot to consider. It is always worth running it past an expert to get their opinion; you never know they may even find you other ways of saving on your premiums.