A health cash plan and private medical insurance (PMI) are both sold as health cover, yet they answer different bills: one hands you back set sums towards the dentist, the optician and the physiotherapist, the other pays a private hospital when you need treatment for an eligible condition. Deciding which bill you want help with, or both, comes before any price. If medical insurance is in the running, an FCA-authorised broker can put a real premium on it for your age and postcode, so a cash plan gets weighed against an actual number rather than a guess; request that premium using the form on this page.
What a named cash plan pays and charges is set out in its own table of benefits, so this page explains how the two products work rather than ranking plans. Tax, including on an employer-paid plan, is a separate question, not dealt with here.
Health cash plan explained: what you pay for and how a claim works
A health cash plan, also called a healthcare cash plan or a medical cash plan in the UK, is a fixed monthly payment in return for money back on routine health costs. You see the dentist or optician as usual, settle the bill yourself, then claim from the plan, which reimburses all or part of it up to a yearly limit set for each kind of benefit. Once a limit is spent it stays spent until the plan year restarts. The usual benefits are dental and optical costs, physiotherapy and similar therapies, chiropody, and a set sum for each night spent as a hospital in-patient, NHS or private.
Plans are usually sold in tiers, often numbered as levels, with Level 1 normally the lowest; moving up usually raises the yearly limits rather than adding a different sort of cover. Compare each plan's table of benefits, not the level's name.
Claiming generally runs the same way: keep the receipt, send it in online, through an app or by post, and the money arrives in your bank account. Plans generally set a claiming deadline, and some accept receipts only from practitioners registered with a named professional body; find both rules before the first bill.
Health cash plan vs PMI: built for different bills
Private medical insurance is designed around a large, unplanned cost: diagnosing and treating an acute condition that starts after you join, privately, with the insurer usually settling with the hospital. A cash plan is designed around small, expected costs.
| Health cash plan | Private medical insurance | |
|---|---|---|
| What it pays towards | All or part of routine bills you have paid, up to a yearly limit per benefit | Private tests and treatment for eligible conditions, within the policy's limits, excess and exclusions |
| Who receives the money | You, once you send a receipt | Usually the hospital and specialist |
| An operation | Not paid for; a hospital stay may bring a set nightly sum | The heart of the cover |
| Your medical history | Many plans ask no health questions at the outset | Underwritten, with conditions you already have generally excluded |
| Before you can claim | Commonly no wait for some benefits, a qualifying period for others | Depends on the underwriting route and the wording |
| What mainly sets the price | The level chosen; age usually counts for less, though a plan may set a joining age | Age and postcode first, then the cover chosen |
The table is general, and any one plan or policy can differ on any row. Its point is that neither product is the cut-price edition of the other. A cash plan will not fund a hip replacement, and a medical policy generally will not pay for a routine dental check-up unless a dental option has been added, which dental cover on private health insurance sets out insurer by insurer.
Health cash plan costs, set against a medical insurance premium
A cash plan generally costs less each month than private medical insurance, and each provider publishes a price for each of its levels. The gap means less than it seems, for two reasons.
The smaller price buys a smaller, more predictable payout: yearly limits cap what a cash plan can ever return, so its worth to you is roughly the routine bills you would claim, measured against what you paid in. A medical policy is priced against a large bill you may never run up; self-pay prices for named operations, on private hospital prices, show what treatment costs without cover.
And the two prices react to different things. A cash plan's price mostly follows the level you pick. A medical premium follows your age and where you live, then the cover you assemble: taking on more of each claim as excess, limiting out-patient cover or accepting fewer hospitals usually lowers it, by an amount that varies with the insurer and your details. For medical insurance alone, typical premiums by age gives indicative ranges.
A cash plan can be tested against its own published price: total last year's spending on what it pays for, apply each yearly limit, and set the result against a year of payments. No such sum works for insurance, whose bill has not happened; what you can get is the premium, priced on you. Give the broker how old you are, where you live and how much out-patient cover appeals, via the form here, and the figure comes back without charge.
Which suits whom: five questions, in order
This site recommends neither. Taken in order, these questions usually show which you are shopping for.
- Which bill worries you? Steady dental, optical and therapy costs are a cash plan's territory. A long wait for a specialist or an operation, or the cost of going private for one, is what medical insurance is for.
- Does work already provide either? Read the scheme booklet before buying a second version of the same thing.
- What does your medical history change? A condition you already have is generally excluded from a new medical policy, at least to begin with, whereas cash plans often pay towards routine costs without asking about health. That can tilt someone whose regular costs stem from a known condition towards a cash plan, though each plan's terms decide it. Insurers' own wording on existing conditions is gathered on the pre-existing conditions page.
- Would you actually claim? A cash plan only returns its cost to people who use it.
- Do you want both? Some people keep medical insurance for the big risk and a cash plan for the routine one. Where both might pay towards one bill, see what happens when two policies could pay before counting on it.
If the answers lead only to a cash plan, start with the providers' published levels: cash plans are commonly bought direct, by individuals and families as well as through employers.
Group health cash plans and cover through work
A group health cash plan, often called a cash plan scheme, is one an employer arranges for its staff, either paying for it as a benefit or letting staff join at their own expense, typically through payroll. A health cash plan for a business follows the same pattern as one an individual buys: set benefits, yearly limits, claims against receipts. If yours came through work, the scheme booklet or HR team holds the benefit table. What an employer-paid plan means for tax is the next question, not this page's, and group health insurance schemes covers the insurance equivalent.
Health cash plan comparison: reading one plan against another
No plan is best for everyone: the right one is the one whose limits match the bills you actually run up. Names that come up in searches for health cash plan providers in the UK include Simplyhealth, Medicash, BHSF, HSF and Bupa, each with its own benefit table, and Bupa's cash plan has a page of its own. To compare plans, lay their benefit tables side by side and read across:
- the yearly limit on each benefit you would really use, not the headline total;
- whether it pays the whole bill up to that limit, or only a share;
- any qualifying period before each benefit can be claimed;
- the claim deadline, and whose receipts it accepts;
- how it can be cancelled, and how much notice it asks for.
Health cash plan reviews are most useful for one thing: how a provider handles claims. Our guide to reading insurance reviews applies to cash plans just as well.
What to ask a broker before setting insurance beside a cash plan
- What would a policy cost on my details with in-patient cover only, and with out-patient cover added?
- Which parts of my history would be excluded under each underwriting route?
- Would any dental or optical option you can quote overlap with a cash plan I already have?
- Do you arrange cash plans as well, or medical insurance only?
Health cash plans in the UK: shorter answers
What does "health cash plan" mean?
A plan that pays you cash back towards health costs you have already met, rather than paying for treatment on your behalf. "Cash" refers to who receives the money; it is not a savings product, and payments are not returned if you never claim.
Is a health cash plan a kind of private medical insurance?
No: it pays fixed sums towards routine costs, not for private hospital treatment. The question often names a provider, Medicash among them; each product's own wording settles exactly what it pays.
What is a Simplyhealth cash plan?
One sold by Simplyhealth, a name that comes up in searches for cash plans. Its levels, limits and prices are in Simplyhealth's own benefit table, which is worth reading against the comparison checklist above.
Can I get a health cash plan with no qualifying period?
Some benefits on some plans can be claimed straight away while others carry a wait, and the split varies by plan. Check the qualifying period beside each benefit you expect to use rather than taking a "no waiting" headline as covering all of them.
How do I get health insurance without a qualifying event?
"Qualifying event" is an American term with no UK equivalent: medical insurance and cash plans here can be applied for when you choose, and what you are asked about your health depends on the product.
Once you know which bill you want covered, the useful next move is a number. If medical insurance is part of the answer, send how old you are, where you live and the cover you have in mind via the form on this page; premiums come back from the FCA-authorised broker, drawn from the insurers it deals with, at no cost to you.