Family health insurance helps you take care of your family’s health needs by offering an affordable way to quickly access private medical care and offering protection against high medical bills. From diagnosis to treatment, you can ensure that you, your partner and children are happy and healthy if medical care is required.
How Does Family Health Insurance Work?
With family health insurance, you can apply for private medical care for each member of your family covered by the policy. If your claim is approved, the insurer will arrange to pay for your medical treatment either directly with the hospital/consultant or reimburse you for all costs incurred. In general, making a claim with your family health insurance company may involve the following steps:
- See your GP who may be able to refer you to a specialist
- Initiating a claim with the health insurance company
- Getting your treatment to be partially or fully covered by the provider
What Does Family Health Insurance Cover?
Family health insurance usually covers the cost of diagnosis and treatment of acute conditions that any of the insureds develop after the start date of your health policy. Acute conditions are illnesses or injuries that occur unexpectedly and can be fully treated within a short period of time, bringing the patient back to the same state of health as before the onset of the acute condition.
Some common expenses that may be covered by a family health insurance plan include, but are not limited to:
- Hospital charges
- Specialist fees
- Diagnostic tests
- Pregnancy complications
- Cancer-related costs
How Can I Get Health Insurance for My Family?
Arranging health insurance for your family is simple and can be done online or over the phone by applying directly to the insurer or through a specialist health insurance broker who can compare several insurance providers and offer personal expert advice.
Find out more about how to take out family private health insurance.
Who Can I Add to My Family Health Insurance?
Family health insurance can cover you and your immediate family members, such as your partner and your children, until a certain age, usually 21, after which they have the option to switch to their own health insurance. With Freedom Health Insurance, children can stay on family health insurance until age 25 if the dependent is covered at age 24 or earlier.
Can You Add a Family Member to Health Insurance?
You can usually add new members to your policy, such as newborns, older children or a partner, at any time, although your premium will most likely increase as a result.
How Much Does Private Family Health Insurance Cost?
- The cost of your family health insurance is calculated based on your personal circumstances and other industry factors. Some of the most common things that can affect your family health insurance are:
- Number of insured persons – adding family members to the policy will usually lead to an increase in the premium. However, with Freedom Health Insurance, a family policy with three or fewer children will only pay for their first child. For our larger families, the maximum fee is limited to four children.
- Age of insured members – the older the people with family insurance, the higher the premiums are usually because there is an increased risk of developing health problems.
- Level of Coverage – The more benefits your health insurance plan covers, the higher your premium.
- Excess Level – A health insurance excess is the contribution you have to pay towards the cost of treatment. The larger the excess you choose to pay, the cheaper your monthly premium will be.
- Your location – some health insurers may charge more if your family lives in an expensive area (such as central London), however Freedom Health does not charge based on location.
- Your current and pre-existing medical condition – Insurance companies will usually collect information regarding your medical condition and that of your family members covered by the policy. It’s worth noting that chronic and pre-existing conditions are usually not covered by insurance companies (although acute conditions arising from them may be).
- Get a quick online quote to find out how much health insurance would cost for your family. To learn more about family health insurance, its benefits and what you should know before purchasing, please visit the family health insurance page.
What Are the Benefits of Family Health Insurance?
- Private family health insurance can have many benefits, including:
- You won’t have to wait long to be seen by a doctor – the NHS offers patients an exceptional quality of care, but there are often long waiting lists for appointments and treatment. With private family health insurance, you get the medical treatment you need much faster, so you can get well quickly.
- You can usually choose the hospital (and sometimes the surgeon) according to your preferences, if available
- You can enjoy private hospital rooms – when you are treated privately, you will usually have your own room with amenities such as a TV and menu options (similar to a hotel room). This can offer you, your partner and children more comfort during treatment or recovery.
- You may be able to access specialist medicines and treatments that are not available on the NHS.
- You can get a referral to a specialist from your GP to get a second opinion or to get specialist treatment.
- You’ll have peace of mind knowing that if you want to access private healthcare for yourself or a family member, you’ll be covered, saving you money on your private healthcare bill.
- Why not take a look at our blog ‘Is Private Health Insurance Worth It?’, which will help you understand why private health insurance could be a good choice for you and your family.
- We hope you now feel more confident about getting a family health insurance plan. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us and a member of our friendly team will be happy to assist you. You can get a family health insurance quote here.
- Disclaimer: The information contained on this page is for general informational purposes only and should not be taken as advice or recommendation. If you need specific advice about health insurance, you can speak to an independent insurance broker. Click here for a list of health insurance brokers available in your area.
- *Calls may be recorded and monitored for quality and training purposes.
- Freedom Healthnet Health Insurance and Freedom Health are trading names of Freedom Healthnet Ltd © 2023. Freedom Healthnet Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with registration number 312282. Registered Office: Freedom Healthnet Ltd, County Gates House, 300 Poole Road, Poole, BH12 1AZ. Company registration number: 04815524. The instructions contained on the website are subject to
