Private health insurance for groups and individuals

Private health insurance is designed to help with the cost of eligible private medical treatment, subject to the terms of the policy.

What is covered and how costs are met depends on the product. Some policies pay eligible treatment costs, while others may pay a fixed cash benefit towards treatment you arrange and pay for yourself.

Cover varies by product and by the level of cover chosen. Across the UK market, a policy may include:

• Inpatient treatment, where you stay in hospital overnight
• Day-patient treatment, where you need a bed but do not stay overnight
• Outpatient treatment, such as consultations and tests without a bed
• Cancer treatment
• Mental health treatment
• Alternative therapies

This is general information about how private medical insurance works, not a description of any one policy.

Depending on the policy, private medical insurance may exclude or restrict cover for:

• Chronic conditions, which are long-lasting and cannot usually be cured
• Pre-existing conditions, which are conditions you had before your cover started
• Emergency treatment
• Cosmetic surgery
• Experimental or unproven treatment

Exclusions are not the same on every product, and this is not a full list. The exclusions that apply to a particular product are set out in its policy documents.

Yes. Private health insurance sits alongside the NHS rather than replacing it, and you can choose NHS treatment at any time.

Some policies pay a cash benefit if you choose NHS treatment for something the policy would otherwise have covered. What that applies to differs by product, and the policy documents set out the detail.

We offer three products: Freedom Elite, Freedom Essentials and Freedom Worldwide. Freedom Worldwide is arranged in two ways, depending on where the policyholder lives: Freedom Worldwide UK, for UK residents, and Freedom Worldwide Non-EEA, for residents outside the EEA. Each product has its own benefits, eligibility, underwriting and policy terms.

Eligibility, benefits, exclusions and terms for each product are set out on the pages that cover them, and in the policy documents for that product.

• Employers: group health insurance
• Individuals: individual and family health insurance, covering our three products and how to arrange cover
• Intermediaries: information for intermediaries, including product information and who to contact
• Health and wellbeing: Freedom 360, our health and wellbeing toolkit

Where you want advice on which product suits you, that comes from an intermediary rather than from us.