Whatever you typed to get here (private medical insurance brokers UK, medical health insurance brokers, or simply health insurance brokers or health insurance agents), the question underneath is usually the same: what does it cost me to use one? The short answer is that you normally pay the broker nothing. The insurer pays them commission out of your premium, so the service is free at the point of use. It is not free of incentive, and the difference between those two things is what this page is about.
If you want cover priced for your own circumstances, fill in the form on this page and an FCA-authorised broker will contact you. It costs you nothing, takes a few minutes, and the broker can quote several insurers in one conversation.
This site is not a broker and is not authorised by the FCA; it introduces readers to one FCA-authorised broker and may be paid for the introduction, and we set out how below. And this is the narrow page: what a broker is, the UK vocabulary, how to check the FCA register and whether a broker or going direct suits you are on the parent page, using a broker to buy private health insurance. This one is about the money.
Who pays health insurance brokers, and what you pay
For an individual or family policy the ordinary arrangement is this. You tell the broker what you need, they quote several insurers, you choose one, and the policy starts. The insurer then pays the broker a commission: a share of the first year's premium, and a share of each renewal premium for as long as the policy stays with that insurer through that broker. No invoice comes to you. The commission is inside the premium you were quoted, not added to it.
Two things follow.
- You pay nothing extra at the point of sale. The quote is the premium. There is no separate charge unless the firm works on a fee, and if it does, it has to tell you before you commit.
- Whether that premium matches the insurer's direct price is a separate question, and we hold no premium data for any insurer by either route, so we will not tell you a broker is cheaper, or dearer; the way to know is the same specification quoted both ways.
How much the commission is, we do not know. We hold no figure for what any broker earns on any policy; the rate is agreed between each insurer and each broker, not published, so no percentage appears on this page. Two things can be said without one: because it is a share of the premium, it rises when the premium does; and because it is paid again at renewal, it is earned whether or not anyone checked the market that year. The figure is a question for the broker, and whether they answer it plainly tells you something in itself.
Free at the point of use, not free of incentive
A commission that is a percentage of the premium puts three pulls on the advice you get. None of them needs a dishonest broker to operate; a good firm manages them rather than pretending they are not there.
- Towards the bigger policy. A fuller hospital list, a higher out-patient limit and a lower excess all raise the premium, and the commission with it. Every lever that makes a policy cheaper for you makes it slightly less rewarding to arrange.
- Towards the panel. A broker is paid by an insurer it holds an agency with, so an insurer it does not deal with will not appear in your quotes. Panels are legitimate and common; "we compared the market" means the broker's market, and you are entitled to know its edges.
- Towards leaving you where you are. Renewal commission arrives for keeping the policy in force; moving you is work, and sending the renewal through is not. It is where the broker's interest and yours most often part company.
None of this makes a recommendation worthless. It makes it testable. A broker with the conflict under control explains a recommendation in terms of what you said you needed, shows you what a higher excess or a lower out-patient limit does to the price, and at renewal tells you whether to stay or move and why. One without talks about features rather than needs, resists the cheaper specification, and sends the renewal through unread.
When you pay a fee instead: fee-based advisers
Some advisers charge you directly, either instead of commission or on top of it. We hold no survey of how many firms do; it is more usual for company schemes than for a family policy.
As we read the FCA's conduct rules for insurance intermediaries (the Insurance: Conduct of Business sourcebook, ICOBS), a UK broker must tell you before you buy whether it is paid by fee, by commission, or by a mixture; must tell you the amount of any fee, or how it will be worked out, before you become liable for it; and, if you are buying for a business, must tell you the commission it receives on the policy if you ask. The place to see what applies to you is the broker's own terms of business, which a regulated firm gives you at the start; the rules themselves are in the FCA's handbook.
If you are offered fee-based advice, three questions settle what it costs:
- Is the fee instead of commission, or as well as it? If both, what does the commission add, and is any of it rebated?
- Is the fee for the advice, or for placing the policy? If the first, you owe it whether or not you buy; if the second, you do not.
- Does the fee buy anything at renewal and at claim time, or only the initial recommendation?
A fee is not a warning sign; it is a cost you can see, where commission is one you cannot.
The costs that are not the premium, and that a broker should put in front of you
"How much is health insurance through a broker?" treats the premium as the cost. It is one of three. The other two arrive when you claim: the excess, the first part of a bill you pay yourself, and the benefit limits, where the insurer's money stops. Both are yours alone, commission touches neither, and they are the levers that make a quote look cheap, which is why a broker paid on the premium has a stake in how clearly they are explained. The clauses below are quoted from four insurers' current documents; they are extracts, not the market.
Aviva's wording sets the excess per person and per year, at a level you choose:
"Benefits covered under this policy will be subject to an excess payable for each member every policy year."
— Aviva, Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (April 2025 issue), page 11, read 4 September 2026.
The same page lists six levels: £100, £200, £500, £1,000, £3,000 and £5,000. On that wording each person on a family policy carries an excess of their own, which is worth knowing before the lower premium of a high excess looks attractive. Bupa's guide shows what an excess costs in practice, and that on its wording it is paid once a year rather than on every claim:
"Helen has some physiotherapy which costs £250. We pay Helen's physiotherapist £150 and we'll let Helen know that she needs to pay the physiotherapist £100 (which is the policy excess). If Helen needs other treatment during the policy year, she doesn't need to pay another excess."
— Bupa, Bupa By You policy guide (BINS 14718, 2024), page 10, read 4 September 2026.
Freedom's guide adds who you settle up with: the excess is deducted "from the first valid invoice we receive and from any subsequent valid invoices until the excess has been fully applied", after which "you will then need to pay the excess amount to the relevant provider" (Freedom Health Insurance, Freedom Elite Policyholder's Guide to Cover, April 2025, page 31, read 4 September 2026). It is money you need at the point of treatment, paid to the clinic, not the insurer.
WPA's product document adds a different kind of cost-sharing, the only one of its kind in the documents we hold:
"Where an excess is chosen, you must pay your excess for eligible treatment up to your chosen level per Policy year before we provide benefit. Where Shared Responsibility (co-payment) has been selected, you must pay 25% of claims for eligible treatment up to your chosen level of Shared Responsibility."
— WPA, Complete Health Insurance Product Information Document (November 2025), page 2, read 4 September 2026.
A quarter of every bill from the first pound, up to a ceiling you choose, is a different shape of cost from a fixed first slice; which costs you less depends on how you claim, and it is a comparison to ask for rather than wait to be offered.
Then the limits. WPA caps specialist consultations as an out-patient at "£250 (increase with the Extra Out-patient Consultations Optional Extra)" (same document, page 1). Aviva lets you choose a reduced out-patient limit, and the clause that travels with it is worth reading twice:
"If you have chosen a reduced out-patient limit of £500 or £1,000 you are not covered as an in-patient, day-patient, or out-patient for treatment for: complications of pregnancy and childbirth, or surgical procedures on the teeth performed in a hospital"
— Aviva, Healthier Solutions terms and conditions (April 2025 issue), page 8, read 4 September 2026.
The lower limit lowers the premium. On that wording it also removes in-patient cover for two things that have nothing to do with out-patient treatment, and a broker who shows you the lower-limit quote without that sentence has saved you money and cost you cover in the same breath.
The two costs are counted separately: Bupa's guide says that with a Direct Access phone or video assessment "you won't need to pay an excess for it and the cost won't be subtracted from your outpatient benefit allowance (if either of these apply to your policy)" (Bupa By You policy guide, BINS 14718, 2024, page 7, read 4 September 2026), so a low excess and a low limit do not cancel out. What a private health insurance excess is and benefit limits explained take each apart in turn.
What to do with this: when a broker gives you quotes, ask for the same specification at two excess levels and two out-patient limits, and ask what cover, if any, each cheaper version removes. For a broker with the insurers' systems open that is a few minutes' work; the form on this page is one way to have it done, and asking costs nothing.
How this site is paid
The same test applies to us. This site is not FCA-authorised, gives no advice and sells nothing. When you fill in the form, your details go to one FCA-authorised broker, and we may be paid for the introduction. That payment sits one step further from you than the broker's commission: the insurer pays the broker, and the broker may pay us. You pay neither of us anything, whether or not you go on to buy.
We cannot tell you the figure for either, and whether any of it touches the premium you are quoted is something we cannot know and will not guess. We do not compare brokers or search the market, and the questions in the next section apply to the firm we introduce exactly as to any other, with one practical wrinkle: the broker is not named here, so you cannot check it on the FCA register before you fill in the form. You can the moment it rings. Ask for the firm's name and reference number in that first call and check it before you give anyone your medical history; the parent page explains how.
The questions that reveal what a broker is costing you
The parent page has the general questions for any broker; these are the ones about money.
- How are you paid on this policy: fee, commission, or both? The one the rules require an answer to, as we read them. If there is a fee, how much, and is it payable if I do not proceed?
- What will you earn if I take this one? A private buyer is not automatically entitled to the figure; a business buyer is, on request. Either way, ask. "The insurer pays us, so it doesn't cost you anything" is an answer to a different question.
- Would you earn more on one of these quotes than on the others? A "yes" is not disqualifying, but it marks the recommendation to test hardest.
- Show me this specification with a higher excess and a lower out-patient limit, and tell me what cover each removes. A broker who does this unprompted has largely answered the conflict-of-interest question for you.
- What are you paid at renewal, and what do you do for it? The answer should include checking the market and telling you whether to move. "We send you the renewal notice" means the renewal commission is buying nothing.
- Is there an insurer you cannot quote, and would it have mattered for me? The panel question, put as a cost question: an insurer the broker is not paid by cannot be in your quotes.
Put them to whichever broker you speak to, including the one we introduce; the answers are the difference between a service that is free and one that is merely unbilled.
Private medical insurance brokers in the UK, in London or near you: does location change the cost?
If you have been looking for a broker in London or in your own town: private medical insurance is arranged almost entirely by phone, video and email. A firm in Tunbridge Wells quotes the same insurers' products as one in Leeds, and location changes neither what you pay nor what the broker is paid. A specialist medical insurance broker two hundred miles away is usually a better bet than a general insurance office on your high street that arranges a few health policies a year.
Nor do we publish a list of brokers, or a ranking of the top or largest private medical insurance brokers in the UK. We introduce readers to one firm and have no basis on which to rank the others; any site that does rank them is worth reading with the question of how it is paid in mind, as this one should be. What separates good health insurance agents from the rest is not size or address but the answers to the six questions above.
Common questions
Do health insurance brokers charge a fee?
For an individual or family policy, usually not: the insurer pays the broker commission out of the premium, and you receive no bill. Some advisers do charge a fee, instead of or alongside commission, and a UK broker must tell you the basis on which it is paid before you buy and the amount of any fee before you are liable for it.
Are health insurance agents legit?
In the UK a firm arranging insurance must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, or be the appointed representative of a firm that is, and either shows on the Financial Services Register under the firm's name. A firm on the register can be complained about to the Financial Ombudsman Service; one that is not should not be arranging your policy.
What are health insurance agents, and what are they called in the UK?
"Agent" is the American word. In the UK the firm that quotes several insurers for you is a broker or intermediary, whether it calls itself a private medical insurance broker, a private health broker or a private healthcare broker, and the person you speak to is an adviser; the labels vary, the firm does not.
How much commission does a health insurance broker get?
We do not know, and have not guessed: the rate is agreed between each insurer and each broker, and we hold no figure for any arrangement. Ask the broker; a business buyer is entitled to the amount on request under the rules as we understand them, and a private buyer can ask and see what comes back.
Do health insurance brokers save you money?
We cannot promise that, and no page that holds no premium data honestly can. A broker can quote several insurers on one specification and read the wording behind the cheaper one; whether that ends in a lower premium than you would have found direct depends on your case.
Why are health insurance agents so pushy, and how do I stop the calls?
A broker paid only on completion has every reason to chase a quote that has gone quiet. A regulated UK firm should stop when you ask it to; if a phone request is ignored, put it in writing, and the Information Commissioner's Office takes complaints about marketing calls that do not stop.
Do I pay anything if I get quotes and decide not to buy?
Not on commission: a broker paid by the insurer earns nothing if no policy starts, which is why asking for quotes is free. The exception is a fee-based adviser whose fee is for the advice rather than for placing the policy, which you would owe whether you bought or not; the introduction through this site costs you nothing either way.
What a broker costs, then: nothing from you, something from the insurer, and the work is finding out whether the something has shaped the advice. The quickest way is to ask. Fill in the form on this page, take the call, and put the six questions above to the broker before you go further than the basics.