Exeter Friendly Society, the medical insurance provider, has launched a new cheap health insurance package which aims to be a ‘one stop shop’ for families looking to minimise the cost of ill health.
Their Health & Stuff policy is designed to help with the costs of health insurance and not to provide unlimed cover. Under the terms of the policy you agree to pay 10% of your cover amount. You can take cover out for £2,500, £5,000, £10,000 and £20,000. If your health bills come to more than that amount you also have to pay the extra.
The policy is family friendly:
- No extra cost to add children between 3 months and five years old
- You can add children up to the age of 21
- If your children are in full time education they can stay on your policy until they are 25
The policy also offers you the chance to reduce your premiums. There are discounts available if you have a healthy body mass index and if you have been a non-smoker for at least a year.
What’s good?
Health & Stuff will also cover you for all stages of cancer care including palliative care. This is unusual in the health insurance world. Cancer health insurance has come under a lot of scrutiny over the last few year as increasing medical costs are making full cancer cover prohibitive. This policy means that you can get comprehensive cover up to the agreed amount.
On average private medical health insurance policies will only allow you to stay in hospital with your child until they are around 12 years of age. The Health & Stuff policy enables you to stay with a child up the age of 18 as long as they are covered.
The Health & Stuff policy documents are very clear and self-explanatory. Talking to Health Insurance Magazine, Andy Chapman, chief executive of Pioneer and Exeter Friendly Society said:
‘We go out of our way to ensure that people have confidence in the company. We’ve done a lot of things to simplify things, ensuring our customers understand what they’re buying, ensuring that every piece of literature is understandable and giving them confidence that when they need to claim they can claim.’
What’s not as good?
- You have to choose from 300 hospitals across the UK
- Your policy will not cover complementary medicine although it does cover: physiotherapy, osteopathy, podiatry and chiropractic treatment.
Exclusions to the policy
The following are not covered by the policy
• Out-patient drugs and dressings
• Renal Dialysis
• Major organ transplants
• Mental & psychological treatment
• Treatments in nursing homes
• Preventative screening procedures
• Pregnancy and fertility treatment
• Complementary treatments other than those specified
• Professional sports injuries
• Cosmetic and plastic surgery (unless medically required)