Health Insurance - OCEANHAWK INSURANCE LLP

What is health insurance?

It’s cover that helps pick up the bill for private medical care for a future short-term injury or illness, and is also known as private health insurance or private medical insurance.

You can take it out for you, your partner and your family, and having cover in place could make you feel more prepared for any eligible health-related bumps or bends in the road ahead. Our insurance can offer more control over your treatment choices, and help soothe worries about how long you might wait for an appointment, from a private GP consultation, to the diagnosis of a condition or surgery.

How does health insurance work?

You choose the healthcare benefits you need and pay a premium. Then if you get a short-term illness or injury, and are referred by your GP, we’ll help you choose from a wide range of high-quality private facilities and hospitals.

If you make a claim, we’ll make sure it’s quick and hassle-free, so you can focus on getting better.

Also, some of the terms we use in health insurance can sound like another language, so we’ve put together a glossary.

Do you need health insurance?

Private medical insurance could be for you if:

You don’t want to drag your feet on health matters – faster access to diagnosis, treatment and aftercare is important to you
You’d prefer continuity of care where possible
You’d like treatments that might not be available on the NHS

How much does health insurance cost?

It depends on things like your age and where you live and, if you’re switching to us, how many claims you’ve had. But you can control the features you have and don’t have, which can increase or decrease your premiums.

Boost your cover

Add to your basic cover with these options, at an additional cost:

Dental and optical cover for routine dental treatment and eye care expenses
Mental health treatment adding daypatient and inpatient care to your core outpatient cover for acute mental health conditions
Extended hospital list increase the number of hospitals you can use, mostly in the Greater London area. This is instead of Expert Select, our core route to treatment or the standard Key hospital list
Other treatment and therapies such as GP-referred treatment to a physiotherapist, osteopath, chiropractor or acupuncturist
No claim discount protection pay a small sum to help keep future premiums down

Reduce your cover

Options to make your premiums more affordable:

Add the six-week option you’ll still be covered for private inpatient treatment and daypatient care if NHS treatment isn’t available within six weeks. We can’t offer this if you live in the Channel Islands or on the Isle of Man
Policy excess pay towards the cost of a claim – choose from £100, £200, £500, £1,000, £3,000 or £5,000 – no more than once per person, per policy year
Reduced hospital lists you can choose the Signature hospital list, which includes hospitals in Scotland and Northern Ireland only, or the Trust hospital list of the NHS Trust and Partnership private hospital units, if you live within the catchment area
Reduced outpatient cover you can choose to reduce your outpatient cover to a limit of £0, £500 or £1,000, as well as removing certain outpatient benefits These reduced limits don’t apply to cancer treatment

What our Health insurance covers

Our insurance offers wide-ranging cover against illness, cancer, accidents and curable diseases. The language of health insurance can be confusing, and can mean very specific things.

What’s covered

Acute conditions
Our health insurance covers treatment for short-term illnesses or injuries that respond quickly to treatment.
Access to 100s of hospitals
Whether you choose Expert Select or a hospital list, you’ll have access to a wide range of private hospitals and facilities. These include BMI, Nuffield, Spire and NHS private units.
Extensive cancer care
Cover for cancer diagnosis, treatment and aftercare as standard – read more about our cancer pledge.
Hospital charges and specialist fees
Comprehensive outpatient cover, including diagnostic tests, consultations with a specialist, treatment with a specialist, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

What’s not covered

Chronic conditions
We don’t cover a disease, illness or injury that needs ongoing or long-term care, such as diabetes, arthritis, epilepsy and asthma. Please note that cancer is covered as standard.
Pre-existing conditions
If we look at your full medical history when you apply (full medical underwriting), we’ll usually exclude any conditions you had previously. If we don’t look at your full medical history when you apply (moratorium underwriting), when you make a claim, we’ll ask about any pre-existing conditions you had in the five years before you took out the policy. These conditions won’t be covered unless you’ve been free from medication, treatment, diagnostic tests or advice for them for two continuous years after taking out this policy.
Pregnancy and childbirth
We don’t cover treatment for pregnancy and childbirth but we do cover related conditions that can also be experienced outside of pregnancy and childbirth, and the specific complications listed in the terms and conditions.