Health care cash plans are low cost insurance policies that pay out a sum of money towards the cost of receiving treatment for a wide range of medical conditions.
You should not associate it with private medical insurance (PMI), which pays for specific forms of treatment and operations performed privately. Health cash plans enhance private or NHS medical treatment by providing the cash to pay for everyday health treatments. Health cash plans were once called Hospital Cash Plans (they paid out a lump sum if the policy holder needed to go into hospital), as time moved on, they evolved into what they are today and offer cover for a very broad range of treatments.
One of the main benefits of a health cash plan is that it allows you to receive early diagnostic advice, and where necessary, receive early treatment without having to be part of the long waiting list of the NHS.

What exactly is and is not covered by health cash plans vary considerably from provider to provider. It really all depends what you as the customer want a health cash plan to cover.

Payment is made in the form of a monthly premium, in most cases by direct debit.

Health Trust Fund

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A recent development is the arrival of the health trust fund, which uses the UK trust fund laws that permit low cost cover, comprehensive access to medical facilities, no excess payments, no automatic premium increases and no age loading. One important aspect of Health Trust Funds is that the Financial Services Authority does not regulate them at the moment.

What are the advantages?

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You don’t need to have a full medical before taking out a health care cash policy.
It Can be used towards the cost of dental and optical treatment along with many other forms of medical treatment. If you are a parent and have taken out a health care cash plan, then usually, your children are included free of charge. Unlike a number of other insurance policies, the cost of the premiums for a health care cash plan does not increase as we get older.

What are the disadvantages

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As I have already said, nearly every health care cash plan is different, so make sure you are fully aware of just what exactly your health care cash plan consists of.
Some health care cash plan providers will not let you make any claims until you have held the policy for a set period of time. Other health care cash plan providers limit the amount of cash they pay out. Also, some health care cash plan providers cap the maximum time spent in hospital and will not pay out after a certain period of time.
There are health care cash plans that only allow one claim, and others that only pay out minimum hospital fees. So, at the cost of becoming boring, I say to you again, check, check, and check again to make sure you are fully aware of what your health care cash plan consists of.

What types of Plans are there?

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There are literally hundreds of policy providers for health care cash plans, all of them offering a different type of health care cash plan ‘and claiming that their health care cash plan is better than anyone else’s. It really is up to you to go out there and armed with the knowledge of what you want, carry out due diligence and research to make sure you get what you want. To make life a little easier for you, there are five distinct areas that health care cash plans fit in to.

1. Packaged Health care cash plan: With this type of health care cash plan there is a set range of benefits and limits stated in the policy, and different health care cash plan providers offer different packages. Although not designed for the specific individual, a health care cash plan package is a good option if it includes some if not all the treatment you think you and your family may require in the future. It takes time to research and identify the right health care cash plan provider that has the right health care cash plan for you.

2. Limited cover Health care cash plan: As the name suggests, this type of health care cash plan is similar to packaged health care cash plans but with reduced cover. I.e. fewer treatments, smaller limits, depending on the individual health care cash plan policy provider. However, limited health care cash plans should and I say again, should be less expensive than a full package health care cash plan, but as always, it pays to shop around. Limited health care cash plan may be of benefit to those of you that need specific treatment or diagnostics, and they fall under the scope of the limited health care cash plan.

3. Dental health care cash plan: This is a health care cash plan limited to dental treatment and sometimes optical treatment as well, and is designed for those people that only require a health care cash plan that contributes towards the cost of dental (and maybe optical) treatment for themselves and their family. Again, there is no so called standard health care cash plan for dental and optical treatment, so it is up to the individual (you!) to research and shop around until you find the right dental health care cash plan for you.

4. Over 50s Health care cash plan: Without sounding condescending, the older we become the more we need medical advice and treatment. The NHS, whilst providing reduced charges for some older age groups, does not provide for many of the extra costs associated with diagnosis or treatment of people.
If you are a member of a professional body or trade union, it may be worthwhile checking whether they offer any form of scheme that provides medical treatment for those members who are retired, or another option is to check whether your former employer runs any such schemes, and if so, is it open to retired employees.

Age as with everything, plays an important part when contemplating taking out a health care cash plan, a lot of health care cash plan providers do not accept new enquiries from anyone over the age of sixty. Others do not accept new enquiries from anyone over the age of sixty-nine. Some health care cash plan providers only offer limited or lower benefits to those of us over a certain age, 59 in some cases, 64 in other cases.

However, all is not lost as there are now a small number of health care cash plan providers that have specifically developed health care cash plans for the more senior age groups. This type of health care cash plan will have various restrictions depending on which age group it provides cover for, including the over fifties, the over fifty-fives, the over sixty, and over sixty-fours. There are even a few health care cash plan providers who have no upper age limit, so those centurions amongst us can also apply for a health care cash plan.

5. Small businesses and self employed health care cash plans: For those of you that have chosen to forgo the career path of the corporate world, and have instead bravely started work for yourself, one of the downsides is that you lose all the fringe benefits of working for a corporate company, such as health insurance for you and your family. All visits to the doctor or dentist are in your own time and not the company’s and therefore you end up receiving the double whammy of paying out, whilst not earning any money.

In some cases corporate health care cash plan providers allow people who leave the company to continue with the corporate health care cash plan on an individual basis, although there is little or no choice on what is covered and for what price.

Many health care cash plan providers accept individual self-employed people on individual health care cash plans.

Some health care cash plan providers offer corporate health care cash plans to companies employing 3 or 5 people, although they take a lot of finding.

Health care cash plans can include partners and children, the age limit on children is usually eighteen, but if they are in full time education, the age limit can rise up to twenty-five. Some health care cash plans provide health screening and health club discounts as well as a range of help lines.

6. Health care cash plans for the self-employed: The health care cash plan is taken out in the name of the self-employed person and can usually be extended to include partners and children.

7. Health care cash plans for small businesses: The health care cash plan is taken out in the name of the business and cover is for named individuals.

8. Health care cash plans for Corporate Companies: This is usually provided as a standard health care cash plan and the premiums are paid in one of three ways:

Company pays the monthly premium
Employees pay the monthly premium, usually deducted straight from their salary
Both the company and the employee contribute towards the monthly premium

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