Simplyhealth's everyday Health Plan, sold on its website as the 1-2-3 Health Plan, comes in five levels, and the level you pick sets two things: the monthly price, and the yearly limit on each benefit. On the table of cover linked from that plan page, Level 1 costs £8.45 a month for one adult and Level 5 costs £71.95. If you are weighing a cash plan against private medical insurance, the sums behind each level are below. Pricing the private medical insurance side of that choice is something an FCA-authorised broker does on a free phone call, booked with the form on this page.
Every figure here comes from Simplyhealth's own table of cover for its consumer Health Plan (document code TOC-SHPCONSUMER2-0926, © 2026 Simplyhealth Access) and its Health Plan policy document, effective from 1 September 2026, both downloaded from Simplyhealth's website on 29 October 2026. The company's name for the product is a "health plan"; paying money back against receipts is what people search for as a cash plan.
Simplyhealth plan levels and what each costs a month
Premiums on the table of cover include Insurance Premium Tax where applicable. Adding a partner doubles the adult price at every level, and children are priced per child, rising with the level.
| Monthly premium | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You | £8.45 | £12.00 | £25.10 | £48.00 | £71.95 |
| You and your partner | £16.90 | £24.00 | £50.20 | £96.00 | £143.90 |
| Each child under 18 | £1.50 | £3.00 | £6.00 | £12.00 | £18.00 |
The price does not climb evenly. On our arithmetic from the table, Level 3 costs just over twice Level 2 (£25.10 against £12.00), and Level 5 about eight and a half times Level 1 (£71.95 against £8.45). Simplyhealth's plan page headlines the plan "from only £25.10 a month", which is the Level 3 single-adult figure in this table rather than the lowest premium the table lists. These are Simplyhealth's published prices, not a quote for you, and Simplyhealth may change premiums and benefit limits at renewal.
Simplyhealth cash plan benefits by level: dental, optical, therapies and hospital stays
On each benefit below, Simplyhealth's table says it pays "100% of your receipt up to your annual limit", for each person covered. You pay the dentist, optician or therapist first, then claim. Hospital admission works differently: it is a flat cash amount for each night or day you are admitted.
| Annual limit per person | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental (check-ups and treatment) | not included | £60 | £110 | £165 | £220 |
| Optical (sight tests, glasses, contact lenses) | not included | £50 | £100 | £150 | £200 |
| Physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture | £50 | £50 | £150 | £250 | £350 |
| Chiropody / podiatry and reflexology | not included | £50 | £100 | £150 | £200 |
| Prescription charges | £20 | £20 | £30 | £40 | £50 |
| Hospital admission, for each night or day (up to 20 a year) | not included | £20 | £20 | £20 | £20 |
The insurance product information document (IPID-SHPCONSUMER2-0926) confirms the split: dental, optical, and chiropody/podiatry and reflexology sit under "Covered on levels two to five only", and it gives the hospital admission amount as "£20 on levels two to five". Online GP and nurse access, 24/7 mental health support and digital muscle and joint assessments are listed for the plan as a whole rather than level by level.
What changes when you move up a level
Level 1 is a therapies-and-prescriptions plan with online GP access; it has no dental or optical line at all. Level 2 adds the dental, optical, chiropody/podiatry and reflexology, and hospital cash lines, at the lowest limits on the table: £60 for dental and £50 each for optical and chiropody. The hospital amount does not rise at all. It is £20 a night at every level that has it, so a higher level buys bigger dental, optical and therapy limits, not a bigger hospital payment.
The therapy limit triples between Level 2 and Level 3, from £50 to £150, then rises by £100 at each level to £350 at Level 5. Whether any of that justifies the price turns on what you would actually claim in a year, which is the question is a Simplyhealth cash plan worth it works through. For how the dental line behaves on its own, and the separate dental-only plans, see Simplyhealth dental plan explained.
Same level number, different table: Simplyhealth's other plans
"Level 3" does not mean one set of figures across Simplyhealth. The company publishes other tables of cover with the same level numbering and different prices and limits. One table, TOC-HSLVOL-0926, has five levels from £17.80 to £58.25 a month for one adult; its Level 3 costs £28.65 with a £175 dental limit, against £25.10 and £110 on the Health Plan, and it adds a dental accident benefit and a new child payment; another, TOC-RETCONSUMER-0926, has only four levels. Simplyhealth's page for intermediaries describes a plan with six levels of cover for employers. If you were given a table of cover through work, a club or a scheme, that table is the one that counts, not the figures above.
This also affects how you compare. A "Level 2 costs about £12" search result may be the public plan, or an employer table, or an old PDF. Check the document code and the date on the table you are looking at.
Changing level, children and the contract
Simplyhealth's policy document sets out the rules that surround the levels:
- You can change your level of cover only once in a policy year, and not to a higher level if Simplyhealth has waived the premium for any reason.
- A partner or child on the policy must be on the same level as the policyholder, and a partner must live with the policyholder.
- It is a 12-month policy that renews automatically. At least 30 days before each renewal date Simplyhealth writes to the policyholder setting out the coming year's terms, with any changes to benefit levels or premiums. Cancelling after the 14-day cooling-off period and before the year ends means paying the remaining premiums for that policy year.
For waiting periods on new or increased cover, see our page on Simplyhealth qualifying periods, and the mechanics of sending in receipts are on claiming on a Simplyhealth cash plan.
A cash plan level against medical insurance cover
A cash plan pays set amounts back towards routine bills. Private medical insurance is built for the opposite end: it is designed to pay for eligible treatment of an illness or injury that could run to thousands of pounds, and it is priced on your age, health and choices instead of a published level. Simplyhealth's table lists capped amounts such as £20 a night in hospital; it is not a substitute for a policy that pays hospital and consultant bills, and the two can be held side by side. Our health cash plan costs page sets the two kinds of cover against each other in more detail.
You buy this plan from Simplyhealth through its website, at the published prices above, so the broker does not quote it. If what worries you is a big private hospital bill, private medical insurance is what the broker handles: ask for a free call-back with the form here and the broker can work out a premium to set against the cost of a cash plan level.
Level questions that come up
What is the Simplyhealth hospital cash benefit?
On the consumer Health Plan, £20 for each night or day you are admitted, up to 20 nights or days in a policy year, on Levels 2 to 5. Level 1 has no hospital admission benefit.
Is there a Simplyhealth cash plan Level 6?
Not on the consumer Health Plan, whose table of cover stops at Level 5. Simplyhealth's page for intermediaries describes an employer version of the plan with six levels of cover; if your plan came through work, your employer's table of cover sets its levels and limits.
Is Level 1 worth having if it has no dental or optical?
Level 1 offers therapies up to £50, prescriptions up to £20 and the online GP and mental health services. Whether that matches what you spend is a personal sum; compare the yearly cost, £101.40 (12 times £8.45), with the receipts you expect to claim.
What limits apply to a child added at Level 3?
The same limits as the policyholder, held separately: each person covered has their own annual limit for each benefit, and children must be on the same level as the policyholder, so a child added to a Level 3 policy has the Level 3 limits. You can add up to four children under 18, and the table of cover adds that the mental health support services are not available to children under 16.