For self-employed and contracted workers, falling ill can be a nightmare. While workers employed by businesses might be offered private medical insurance as part of their workplace benefits provision, those who are self-employed often won’t have access to these services. But when your livelihood depends on your ability to work, having to join record NHS waiting lists simply isn’t an option.
Although the NHS should always remain the first port of call when it comes to accident and emergency treatment, private medical insurance can help cover the costs of seeing a medical provider for non-urgent issues much faster.
While the NHS continues to provide a vital service for many people, when it comes to short-term, acute medical needs, going to a private medical provider might mean that you can be seen quicker and get back to business sooner.
With a private medical insurance plan, you, and potentially those around you, have the peace of mind that you can have healthcare issues seen to quickly and in a range of different locations – all with some protection against of the financial burdens of unexpected private treatment.
Private medical insurance can cover the costs of everything from hip and knee replacements to in-patient physiotherapy. And while different insurance policies will offer different services, your insurance plan should cover the majority of your in-patient and day surgery costs as standard, making private healthcare more available, and helping both you and your business get back to normality.
But no insurance plan covers every type of illness, and there are some common exceptions that medical insurance plans won’t protect you for. Typically, these are illnesses:
There are also some diseases and illnesses specially excluded from insurance plans, so be sure to check what any potential plan covers and doesn’t cover.
Private medical insurance gives you the freedom to choose when it comes to protecting yourself against the unexpected costs of unforeseen illness or injury. There are hundreds of different medical insurance deals on the market, and while our specialist CMME advisers will do their research to find the right deal for you, insurance plans typically fall into three cost thresholds.
From affordable to more expensive insurance plans, you’ll have some or all your medical bills covered by your insurance provider. This can make a big difference when it comes to having your illnesses treated quickly. Self-funding private treatments can be extremely expensive, with operations like total hip replacement costing as much as £11,315.
Having to unexpectedly shoulder such a significant expense might have a considerable impact on business for independent workers. So, with the right insurance plan, you can save time, money and worry when it comes to your health.
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Your underwriting options
Often, the premiums of your insurance plan will vary based on your medical history and any existing health conditions. When it comes to taking out a plan, you’ll need to decide between declaring all your medical history in complete underwriting or a moratorium underwriting, which excludes existing health conditions from your plan for a period of time.
With full medical underwriting, you’ll know exactly what your insurance doesn’t cover. You’ll need to give a complete medical history and it’s likely that any pre-existing medical conditions won’t be included as part of your plan.
Instead, you could opt for a moratorium underwriting which automatically excludes cover for any pre-existing medical conditions dating back from before you took out the insurance. This moratorium period will continue for a fixed period after your policy begins. So, if you developed a pre-existing medical condition just before you took out your new plan, this could be excluded from coverage for the first few years of your policy.
Finding the right health insurance policy as a self-employed or contracted worker can be tricky. But it doesn’t need to be. Speak to one of our trusted financial advisers today, and we’ll do all the hard work for you. Whatever your budget and whatever your needs, finding the right policy for you couldn’t be easier. Speak to a CMME adviser today.
