National Friendly is a Bristol-based friendly society that sells private medical insurance under the name My PMI, and the cover splits into an out-patient level and an in- and day-patient level that you can take together. Whether a friendly society's My PMI deserves a place on your shortlist is a decision worth testing against your own age, postcode and health history: an FCA-authorised broker can work through it with you by phone, at no charge, when you request a National Friendly call-back with the form on this page.
Who is National Friendly, and who owns it?
The name is a trading name. The insurer is the National Deposit Friendly Society Limited, with its registered office at 11-12 Queen Square, Bristol. Its conditions give Financial Services Register number 110008 and say the benefits side of the business answers to both the PRA and the FCA; you can check the entry on the FCA register.
It is a mutual. The My PMI Policy Summary calls it "a friendly society and mutual insurer that’s over 155 years old", and the Policy Conditions (page 20) say it is "owned by our members", with profits invested "instead of paying dividends to shareholders". Both are the versions on National Friendly's website, read in October 2026. Anyone holding a My PMI policy is automatically a member with a vote, and may attend the society's annual general meeting. The wider comparison of mutuals and shareholder-owned insurers sits on which UK health insurers are for profit.
My PMI in outline: Level 1, Level 2 and the hospital choice
The policy conditions say each level is built for acute conditions, the sort likely to be curable with treatment, and that chronic conditions are left to the NHS. The two levels cover different ground:
| Level 1 | Level 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Aimed at | Out-patient needs | In-patient and day-patient needs |
| Annual limit | You choose £2,000 or £5,000 for out-patient treatment, for each person each policy year | £1 million a person each policy year across in- and day-patient cover |
| Typical items | Specialist consultations, diagnostic tests, physiotherapy, up to 10 counselling or psychotherapy sessions | Hospital stays, surgery, cancer treatment; out-patient cover limited to scans and tests |
Hold both and every term applies. At Level 2 the only out-patient benefits are diagnostic scans and tests, each with its own annual cap, and the conditions say private out-patient consultations are not paid at that level. You also pick an excess. The Policy Summary lists the options as no excess, £100, £250, £500 and £1,000, says premiums are lower the higher the excess you choose, and has each person on the policy pay it once a policy year towards covered treatment. The conditions charge no excess on private GP consultations or on the NHS cash benefits described further down.
Guided, standard or extended: how the hospital option works
You pick a treatment option when you apply. Under the guided option the claims team finds and books a consultant for you, and National Friendly's website says it always looks for one close to you, "certainly no more than 30 miles from where you live". The standard option lets you use any UK hospital other than those on the extended list, and the conditions say you pay more for it than for guided treatment. Extended opens that list too and, the conditions say, raises the premium; the website's list (correct as of August 2026) is HCA hospitals in London and Manchester plus The Cleveland Clinic, Cromwell Hospital, The London Clinic and King Edward VII's Hospital. You get one chance in each five-year term to switch option, at an annual premium review, and the new choice cannot be used for treatment already planned.
Which option fits depends on where you live and which hospitals you would want to reach, and a broker can set the three side by side when they call.
What My PMI leaves out, including conditions you already have
The conditions list 37 numbered exclusions, among them treatment after admission through accident and emergency, in-patient or day-patient mental health treatment, fertility treatment, congenital conditions and weight-loss surgery, and Level 2's cancer cover leaves out several drug therapies. Conditions you had before joining are dealt with through the underwriting route you pick on the application: full medical underwriting, continued personal medical exclusions carried over from another insurer, or a moratorium. How each route treats past conditions, and the exclusions most likely to change a decision, are set out in our National Friendly review, and other insurers' versions are in our comparison of pre-existing condition terms.
Making a claim, and the cash benefits
Every claim starts with a call to the claims team before any treatment is arranged. A GP, whether NHS, private or Friendly GP+, is normally the first step, and the claims team then asks questions about your health concern and explains what the policy offers. For musculoskeletal and mental health claims, a specialist in that field rings you to assess the claim, and you do not have to see a GP first.
Level 2 has two benefits that pay cash if you use the NHS instead. The conditions set the NHS overnight stay benefit at "£100 per night to a maximum of 10 nights (£1,000)" when you are admitted for in-patient treatment that the policy would have covered privately. In some cases the society may instead offer a fixed cash allowance, if you choose NHS treatment and the claims team has authorised it in advance; you cannot claim both for the same treatment.
National Friendly's online GP and dental helpline
The conditions describe Friendly GP+ as a discretionary benefit: telephone consultations at any hour, video consultations between set hours, private prescriptions (which you pay for), open referral letters and a physiotherapy assessment. It also gives you and family members aged 16 and over free health and wellbeing support, counselling, legal advice and financial guidance. The society reserves the right to change or remove it on 90 days' notice, so do not treat it as a guaranteed part of the contract.
Friendly Dentist is a chat helpline with dentists and educational material. Emergency online appointments, video examinations and prescriptions are extras at additional cost, and the service covers the policyholder only.
Who can join, and for how long the terms last
A first-time applicant must be at least 18 and under 86. A policy can be one adult, a couple, or either with children, up to ten of them. Children must be no older than 22 on joining. Everyone covered has to be permanently UK-resident, and the Policy Summary adds that each person needs six months or more of continuous registration with a GP in the UK when applying. Terms are offered for five years at a time, with the premium reviewed each year; the mechanics of that review are on why a National Friendly premium goes up, and the 30-day cancellation right and what follows are on cancelling National Friendly.
The yearly premium review starts from the standard rate for your age and postcode area and takes in your excess, your hospital option and other factors, so a price worked out for someone else tells you little. Weighing My PMI against alternatives suits a free broker's call, which My PMI shoppers can book through the form on this page; on it they hear which insurers that broker quotes for someone with their details, with the prices compared.
National Friendly questions
Is National Friendly part of AXA?
No. The Policy Summary describes National Friendly as a friendly society and mutual insurer with no shareholders, and the conditions say it is owned by its members, so it does not belong to AXA or any other group. AXA Health is a separate insurer; what AXA Health costs is on its own page.
How do I get a National Friendly quote?
National Friendly sells My PMI direct: its website takes call-back requests, and its application form can be completed online, by post, by email or by phone. Its Policy Summary also mentions buying through a financial adviser, who would assess whether the policy suits you.
Where can I read the key facts?
In the My PMI Policy Summary, published on National Friendly's website next to the Policy Conditions. It sets out both levels of cover, the three underwriting routes, the excess options and how the yearly premium review works, and National Friendly asks you to read it before applying.
What protection do I have if National Friendly fails?
The conditions say you are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and may be entitled to compensation from it if the society cannot meet its liabilities. The same cover is stated on the back page of the Policy Summary.