4 easy ways to reduce your health insurance premium

If you are looking to reduce your Health Insurance premium at renewal, you have a number of different options available that you may like to consider. There are a number of reasons why your premium will increase every year. Let us help you look at ways to contain the costs for the future.

Add an Excess to reduce your health insurance premium

By adding an excess to your policy you agree that you will pay that excess amount towards a claim. As a standard the excess will be per person per policy year but it could be per person per claim.

Vitality Health do allow members to apply the excess on a per claim basis and this will also reduce your premium further.

Excess options range from £100 all the way up to £5,000 depending on the insurance provider. Not all insurers will offer the higher excess options to policyholders

The NHS 6 week wait option can lower your premiums

With this option it is possible to make your medical insurance cheaper by accepting that if the NHS waiting list is less than 6 weeks long then you would have your treatment on the NHS, otherwise you will be able to receive treatment privately. The NHS 6 week wait option applies only to in-patient and day-patient cover. Your out-patient cover is not affected by this rule.

Reduce your out-patient cover to bring your health insurance premium down

Another way to reduce your premium at renewal is by lowering the level of cover you have available towards out-patient services. Out-patients cover includes consultations with a consultant/specialist, diagnostic tests, specialist referred therapies etc. Regardless of the level of out-patient cover you choose, you would still be covered in full for eligible in/day-patient treatment, subject to the specific insurer’s benefits and terms.

Your choice of hospital list can make a big difference to your premium

Most insurance companies will offer different hospital lists for their members. Ranging from London Lists which include the high charging hospitals mainly found in central London. If you do not require cover for these hospitals then you can choose to remove them which will effect a saving in premium.

Standard hospital lists and limited lists such as the Signature hospital list from Aviva or “InSpire” cover from AXA health are a great option for cost containment. If you are happy for the insurance company to select which hospital and consultant you see, this is a cost saving option also available from insurers such as Vitality Health. This type of cover is sometimes referred to as a guided option.

If you would like SMP Healthcare Ltd to review your policy benefit options for you we would be more than happy to do so. This review service is completely free of charge for both individual and business clients. Please let us know how we can help you by calling on 01245 929129 or emailing us using enquiries@smphealthcare.com