1-Inclusions or exclusions

It is important to decide what you want to be covered for, while balancing those inclusions with how much you can afford to pay in premiums.

2- Annual benefit limits

Each health insurer has extras or ancillary products with a variety of annual benefit limits. This means each year you can claim up to that amount within the year. The following year the annual benefit is replenished to the full amount. So decide what benefits you will use and if they limits will be sufficient whilst balancing the price you want to pay for your private health insurance.

3 – Costs

There are not only the obvious costs of the premiums to look at when comparing health insurance cover, but you also need to pay attention to some of the other costs, such as how much do you have to pay as an excess or a medical gap payment when you make a claim? For example, you may need to pay an excess when you are admitted to hospital, but also find out whether you have to make co-payments for each night you are in hospital too.

4 – Hospital and Extras

Hospital cover covers the expenses of procedures in hospital such as joint replacements, cardiac surgery and birth related services, depending on your level of cover. To avoid being charged the Medicare Levy Surcharge you need to have hospital cover with an excess of $500 or less on a single policy or $1,000 or less on a couples or family policy.

Extras or ancillary cover covers items such as dentist costs, optical costs and even remedial massage and physio.

Depending on your needs, you can either take hospital cover, extras or both.

5 – Level of Cover

The highest level of health insurance will usually cover you for your choice of private hospital and choice of doctor, top cover for hospital services, greater benefits from your extras and higher annual limits. It is important that you pay attention to the level of cover as you compare different policies, rather than simply assuming you’ll be getting inclusive cover just because you are taking out private health insurance.

Allan has been blogging about private health insurance and healthy living for a couple of years. When he is not writing, Allan likes to spend time with his family.

If the reason for wanting life cover is solely to protect a mortgage then the amount of cover should be the initial loan amount and the policy should last for the same number of years as the mortgage. If the mortgage is on a “repayment” basis, where each monthly payment is treated as being part capital and part interest, decreasing cover may be the most appropriate. The amount of cover, under a decreasing cover policy, decreases throughout the term of the policy, roughly in line with the outstanding balance on a repayment mortgage. Decreasing cover works out cheaper than level cover, where the lump sum amount stays the same for the whole policy term.

If cover is required for an interest only mortgage, where the full amount lent has to repaid at the end of the mortgage term, then level cover should be considered.

Where the reason for cover is to provide financial security for loved ones, it becomes more difficult to determine an ideal amount of cover. One method of working this out is to add up all monthly expenses and calculate a sum that would be needed, to meet these ongoing costs, for the number of years the life cover is to last. Using this method, someone with expenses (mortgage, council tax, transport costs, food, gas/electricity/water etc) of £1,500 a month would need to find £180,000 to pay those costs over a 10 year period (£1,500 x 12 x 10). This amount would rise to £270,000 for a 15 year period and a massive £450,000 for 25 years.

Fortunately, many life cover providers offer online calculators that will do the maths for you. The calculator will list the common monthly expenses and allows for others to be added. Once all expenditure has been input, the calculator will usually work out the monthly and annual totals and show how much would be needed to meet these costs over a certain number of years. These calculators are designed to be user-friendly and are quick and straightforward to use.

It’s often a shock to see just how much is needed, as a lump sum total, just to continue paying the everyday bills. In fact, the actual amount needed could be even higher if account is taken of the cost of non-essential items, rising prices and unexpected or one-off costs. Of course, those that are left behind may have savings or their own income that can be used towards living costs and other expenses.

There may also be new costs which arise following a death. The most obvious of these are funeral costs and solicitor legal fees. In addition, those left behind may not be able to personally undertake all their household chores and childcare responsibilities and could have to pay others to perform some of these tasks.

Choosing the right amount of personal life cover isn’t therefore an exact science and all factors need to be taken into consideration. The objective should be to leave a suitable sum that will alleviate the financial stresses and strains for loved ones.

If the desired amount of cover proves to be too expensive then there may be a need to reduce the cover (or the period of cover) to lower the cost. It is most definitely preferable to have some life cover than no cover at all. That said, life cover is often very affordable and many will be surprised by its cost. Most online providers offer online quotations which are easy to use and will show the likely cost of cover. It’s also possible to apply for cover online or over the phone.

Company Profile:

John Lewis Insurance offers a range of insurance services selected by the John Lewis Partnership. These include car, home, life, travel, wedding, event and pet insurance products.

For more information about Life Cover from John Lewis Insurance please visit the website here – http://www.johnlewis-insurance.com.

The incidences of cancer, hearth disease, diabetes and obesity-related conditions are on the rise. The chance of being struck down by one these diseases can be greatly reduced through leading a healthy, or at least healthier, lifestyle.

However, there is only so much we can do. Cancer is something that affects one in three people and is a disease that can affect even the healthiest individuals. So what do you do if you contract cancer and have dependents to support?

There is a type of life insurance that’s designed specifically for these kinds of illnesses. Critical illness cover will pay out a tax-free lump sum on diagnoses of any disease or illness listed on the policy. According to claims statistics, you are five times as likely to suffer from a critical illness rather than die before you reach the age of 65.

The cash can be used to pay for private treatment, a private home carerer or to support your family if you are unable to work. In can also act like mortgage protection insurance as you can use it to pay off your mortgage because you cannot continue to pay it yourself through loss of income. You choose the amount of cover you want when you sign up to the policy and your premiums are based on this amount.

However, as with all insurance policies there are lots of things not covered and the specific terms and conditions and small print need thorough analysis. If you are considering taking out a critical illness policy or any kind of health-related life insurance for that matter, you should speak to a life insurance adviser.

For a wide range, take a look at Santander insurance products, from critical illness cover right through to whole-of-life cover as well as mortgage payment protection insurance. It is worth investigating all avenues before committing to one type of insurance.

In today’s day and age, even though treatment is better, the number of people getting life threatening diseases is on the rise, so it’s only prudent to take out health-related life insurance.

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• Affordable health insurance