The regulator of the health insurance industry, the Financial Conduct Authority has mandated that insurers and private medical insurance brokers encourage consumers to shop around to get a better deal at each renewal. As health insurance is not a simple product how on earth should you go about searching the market for a lower premium whilst keeping the best cover, especially if you’ve got any pre-existing medical conditions?
If you’re tempted to ask good old “Google” then here are some tips for you;
1) Watch out for the lead catchers!
Don’t be fooled by the websites that offer to “get you a quote in minutes” as most of them are what are known as “aggregators”, no sooner than you’ve put your details into their onscreen forms than they are selling your name and number as a “lead” for £40-£50 to various brokers. Sit back and prepared to be pestered by pushy sales person after pushy sales person.
I’ve just completed forms for the top 4 results from a search “Compare private medical insurance” and everyone was a lead catcher, I’m expecting my phone to go red hot any moment now.
2) What should you do if you actually generate some online quotes? Which one should you choose?
There are some websites which really will give you a whole range of quotes and policy documents to make a choice from. So how do you decide which to buy? Is the cheapest the best?
We would not expect a new advisor at our firm to be able to make a considered choice about which policy to select until they’d been through a minimum of 4 weeks intensive training so how on earth can a member of the public do it? My answer to this is that you should not even try to wade through the policy options without advice. It’s a maze of complexity where the unwary can come a cropper. Walk away!
3) Go direct to the insurer.
This sounds sensible but of course if you ring a cuddly brand that you think you know and trust then they’ll simply sell you their wares and they won’t advise you.
How do you know if Bupa is better than Aviva is better than AXA or Vitality?
The friendly call centre salesperson is probably not authorised to give you any advice anyway and you could well end up with an “odd” package of benefits that don’t suite your needs.
4) Use an independent advisor.
Ok so I’m biased but I sincerely believe this is the best option to compare health insurance. A good health insurance intermediary should have agencies with all of the insurers and will give you sound advice and support for the long term. There’s no charge for the advice and the premiums are never more than directly from the insurer and are often lower.
