CS Healthcare was a friendly society that sold private medical insurance, at first only to civil and public servants and later to anyone, until its members and business moved to Bupa on 1 January 2021. There is no CS Healthcare policy to buy or rate today; what is left is a record of the two plans it sold, its rules on joining and price, and where its members ended up. Shopping for cover now? A broker with FCA authorisation can talk you through what insurers offer today; that free call costs you a minute's typing in the form on this page.
Civil Service Healthcare Society, 1929 to 2020
CS Healthcare was a friendly society, which is a mutual rather than a company with shareholders. Bupa's August 2020 announcement of the transfer dates it to 1929, when it began by insuring only the Civil Service and public sector, and says the society dropped those eligibility rules in 2019 so that anybody could take out cover. By the end, then, it was not limited to civil and public servants or their families.
It sold one kind of product. Bupa's description is that CS Healthcare "is a mono-line insurer, writing only PMI in the UK", with two products at that point: a modular plan called "Your choice" and "HealthBridge", which the society's own FAQ page called its lower-priced plan. Private medical insurance (PMI) pays for eligible private treatment of new conditions, and was all the society offered.
Its formal name was Civil Service Healthcare Society Limited. If you have an old policy booklet, that is the name you are likely to see on it.
The two plans as the society's own page described them
The wording below comes from the society's FAQ page as the Internet Archive captured it on 2 December 2020, a month before the transfer. It describes the society's plans just before the transfer, not any Bupa policy.
| Feature | HealthBridge | Your choice |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | The lower-priced plan, meant to bridge the gap between the NHS and private cover | Comprehensive, with benefit options the member could add or leave out |
| Hospitals | A local hospital, with the society guiding the choice | A directory of over 300 UK independent and private hospitals, with a Partnership list and a broader Extended list |
| Annual limit | "an overall financial limit of £15,000 per person per policy year" | Described as having no financial limits overall, though the page adds that restrictions are set out in the policy document |
| Cancer | Surgery and treatment not covered; consultations and recovery support might be | Heart and cancer cover was an option, not a given |
| Underwriting | Moratorium only | Full medical underwriting or moratorium |
On cancer under HealthBridge, the society said: "Surgery and treatment for cancer is not covered under a HealthBridge plan, however you could still be covered for consultations and the cost of recovery and support." On underwriting, the page said HealthBridge "is only available under Moratorium terms of underwriting". Under the society's moratorium terms, a member gave only basic details at the start, and any condition they had had symptoms, treatment, medication or advice for in the five years before the plan began was excluded; cover for it came back after two continuous years free of all of those.
Reading that table with today's choices in mind, the useful point is the shape of the trade: a cheaper plan with a cap and narrower cover, against a pricier one built from options. If you are weighing a capped plan against a fuller one now, a broker can set out how the insurers it deals with handle a cap, a hospital list and cancer cover, and the call-back you request through the form here costs nothing.
Joining ages, free children and no no-claims discount
The FAQ page said that a new member "must be aged 18 years and over but no older than 74 years and 11 months". Under a Your choice policy, it said premiums were set by age for several benefit options, while therapy and cash benefits were charged at a flat rate. It also said that children under one, and the eldest child under 18, were covered free.
One choice stands out. The society wrote: "At CS Healthcare, we choose not to offer No Claims Discounts, and therefore do not penalise our members for making a claim." That is a statement about how the society saw no-claims discounts, and it ended with the society. A policy you hold today will follow the rules of whoever now insures it.
Cost-sharing was built into the cheaper plan. The society said HealthBridge had "a compulsory co-payment where members must pay 15% of the claim and CS Healthcare will pay the remaining 85%", with the amount a member paid capped at £250 per claim. On Your choice, a member could instead pick a voluntary excess, or a co-payment option, to lower the monthly premium. Those were the settings of a society that no longer sells cover. On a policy offered to you now, choosing a higher excess usually brings the premium down, by an amount each insurer sets.
On pre-existing conditions, the page said the society did not cover conditions a member had before taking out the policy, or chronic conditions, and that related conditions were not usually covered either. The society itself framed this as the position "with most health insurers", which is a reason to read the underwriting terms closely, whoever you buy from.
Old ratings, a look-alike name and the firm now responsible
Ratings and comments about CS Healthcare still turn up online, and they need reading with three things in mind:
- Check the date. Anything about the society's service, claims or prices is about a firm that no longer runs the policies.
- Check which firm is meant. "C&S Healthcare" and "CS Healthcare" are easily mistaken for each other. The society in this page is Civil Service Healthcare Society Limited.
- Treat star ratings as opinion, not terms. What a plan covers is set by the policy document, not by a score. For the records that can be checked for the insurer that now holds the policies, see Bupa reviews and what the complaint figures show.
Where civil and public servants can look for cover today
With no CS Healthcare policy left to join, a civil or public servant looking for private medical insurance now starts from the wider market. Private medical insurance is sold by many insurers, and the society's own 2019 change meant its cover had been open to anyone for some time before the transfer. A good place to begin is the basics of private health insurance in the UK, then how quotes differ between insurers. If cover comes through your employer instead, company health insurance requirements sets out what to check.
If you still have CS Healthcare papers
Bupa's 2020 announcements described members moving onto a Bupa policy at a renewal after the transfer, so any cover that carried on is now a Bupa plan, and your current schedule names the plan and terms that apply. Your own renewal notice is the document to start from, and a broker can read it with you on the phone after you request a call.
The transfer itself, and why a renewal price may have moved since, are covered in why a former CS Healthcare policy costs more at renewal, so they are not repeated here.
Questions people ask about CS Healthcare
Is CS Healthcare health insurance only for civil servants?
It began that way in 1929. From 2019, according to Bupa's announcement, anybody could apply. It takes no new members now: its members and business moved to Bupa on 1 January 2021.
Is "C&S Healthcare" a different insurer?
This page is about CS Healthcare, the Civil Service Healthcare Society Limited. If your paperwork names a different firm, go by the name printed on it.
Did CS Healthcare reward a year without claims?
Its FAQ page said it chose not to offer no claims discounts. That policy applied to the society's own plans before the transfer.
Did HealthBridge pay for everything up to £15,000?
No. The £15,000 was a yearly ceiling per person, and the FAQ page also noted exclusions, such as surgery and treatment for cancer. Terms of a particular policy sit in its own policy document.