Cardiff Health Insurance
Cardiff health insurance is offered to residents of Cardiff located in Glamorgan, Wales. Like other counties in England, Cardiff has both private and National Health Service (NHS) free hospitals. Even with free hospitals, there are still many benefits to holding Cardiff health insurance.
Medical Cover Benefits
The National Health Services governs medical care in England and they offer services for U.K. residents free of charge. However, free medical care comes with the down side of long wait times for important tests and services due to the many people waiting for NHS care. Some of these tests may be costly, so free medical care may be appealing.
Cardiff health insurance offers benefits that you cannot get with free medical care. For instance, if you were to injure yourself and were seen in a NHS hospital, you could chose to have a private room rather than sharing with other patients if you have medical cover. Affordable private medical cover also enables you to have tests such as x-rays or blood work done at hospitals other than the free hospital.
You also have the freedom of choosing from a range of specialists rather than just the ones offered at your local hospital. At last count, the population in Cardiff was over 300,000, with a steady growth of 2,000 to 4,000 per year. With the population growing at this rate, wait times to see a doctor on the NHS network will also increase, so having Cardiff health insurance can greatly help.
Types of Cover
Cardiff offers health insurance from many of the mainstream direct health insurance companies. There are also four independent medical insurance companies offering health care cover in Cardiff alone. These medical insurance companies offer healthcare cover to both individuals and businesses.
Cardiff health insurance premiums are competitive and so are the levels of cover. The lowest premiums are for non-smoking, women, under the age of 50, with no pre-existing medical conditions. The highest premiums are for men, those who smoke, those who have pre-existing medical conditions and elderly residents. This is because these individuals are more likely to use the cover.
There are three main types of cover for medical care, they are: comprehensive, prompt diagnosis and treatment and care. Comprehensive cover covers private diagnosis including consultations, tests and scans. Prompt diagnosis covers the same in addition to treatments and aftercare through the National Healthcare Services. Treatment and care cover, covers diagnosis through the NHS and treatment along with aftercare.
Most people who chose to have medical cover sign up for comprehensive cover, which gives them the freedom to see any private specialist and to choose any hospital for their treatment and aftercare. Since most private hospitals do not have an emergency room, you may still need to receive your emergency care through the Cardiff NHS.
Comprehensive care offers paid in full cover, which means there are no out of pocket costs for patient consultations, diagnostic tests, some diagnostic scans and procedures, out-patient therapies, mental medical care, post diagnostic tests and cancer treatment and drugs. Private cover also offers you a 24-hour phone in medical care line. This phone line is not for over the phone diagnosis, but rather a method to let you know if you need medical care or if you can self-treat.
Information and Exclusions
When applying for medical cover have ready your personal details and what type of cover you want. If you are signing up for prompt diagnosis only care keep in mind that it will not cover you for tests, medical procedures, therapies, mental health care, post-diagnosis scans or cancer treatment.
Medical policies also covers the nights you stay in a Cardiff NHS private hospital room during inpatient treatments. Some Cardiff health insurance companies cover you up to 35 days, whereas lower premium medical cover may not offer this cover. Some Cardiff health insurance companies also cover you for receiving treatment overseas in care of an emergency as well as repatriation costs (although most travel insurance companies pay for this as well).
Exclusions may apply to your Cardiff health insurance cover. Only a limited amount of companies in Cardiff will cover you with pre-existing medical conditions and this insurance may be more costly than companies that don't.
Smokers will have to pay a higher premium on Cardiff health insurance than non-smokers, since they are considered more likely to use the policy than non-smokers. If you quit smoking for 12 months or more, you will be considered a non-smoker by most medical cover providers. If you have trouble deciding which medical cover provider is right for you, hire a broker who can compare cover and premiums offered by several private and direct cover providers. He may also be able to get you a better deal on your premium since brokers sometimes receive discounts from the providers for directing business to them.