Here at Lime, we think Health Cover should be super-simple (and affordable). And we definitely do things differently around here. But what is it? How does it actually work? We’re so glad you asked…

‍

It has many names: Private Medical Cover, Private Medical Insurance, Personal Medical Insurance, or Health Insurance, Health Cover.

Although there are subtle differences, put simply, it covers you to access private medical services (outside of the NHS).

So, what does that mean?

The NHS is brilliant (and we know that most of you think that too). But sometimes, for whatever reason, we might want to access private services.

NHS resources are stretched thin, so for example, sometimes there can be a bit of a wait for treatment. Or there might be certain drugs or specialist treatments that are too expensive for NHS Trusts.

Traditional Private Medical Insurance gives you a choice in the level of care, how and when you get it, depending on what exactly you are covered for.

You pay a monthly amount called a premium, just like most other insurance.

Then, when you need it, your cover will pay all or part of your bill for private (non-NHS) medical services. It could be anything from seeing a specialist, to tests or scans, an operation or treatment.

Sometimes you need to get a referral from your GP to access these services, but not always.

That’s the theory.

‍

Usually, a whole load of benefits are bundled together in this type of insurance.  

And once you step out of the NHS care pathway, it can be difficult to jump back in. So, you end up using more and more private services.

This can make it quite complicated and expensive.

At Lime, we do things differently. What we offer isn’t exactly the same as Private Medical Insurance. It’s more than that. That’s why we talk about Health Cover.

We love the NHS. It's amazing and the care is world class. Most of the time we don’t need anything else. But we all know that there are times when it would be useful to top up what we get from the NHS.

Just in super-simple, affordable, bite-size chunks of cover.

Not a huge bundle of benefits.

Just a little top up where you need it, to help you get the best out of public healthcare and put your mind to rest. Just pay for what you need.

And maybe what you need is a lump sum following a difficult diagnosis. It’s hard enough to fight cancer, let alone when you’re worrying about paying your heating bill at the same time! That’s why we offer that too.

‍