What are Cash Plans?

Cash Plans (sometimes called Hospital Cash Plans) are inexpensive policies that pay out towards the cost of a various types of medical treatment. For example, money will be paid to you if you need to go into hospital, for maternity expenses or if you need to see a specialist.

Cash plans can also help to pay towards the cost of routine health expenses such as a visit to see a dentist or an optician, health screening or for some types of alternative therapies.

A cash plan policy usually requires a monthly premium payment, often using direct debit. Companies usually offer several levels and ranges of cover and with different monthly premium levels.

Simple to join, simple to claim

Cash plans normally don't require a full medical examination before joining. When parents are covered by a cash plan policy, their children will often be included free of charge.

For most providers, the cost of premiums does not increase as time goes on, unlike many other types of insurance.

Then when you then need to pay for NHS or private treatment, you can claim back some of the cash up to specified limits for each type of treatment or an annual total. For example, one policy covers the costs of dental treatment up to £100 a year.

A range of suppliers, many different policies

Many of the Cash Plan providers are non profit making provident associations. Between them they have a wide range of plans and it isn't easy to pick an overall best provider. It depends on your age, what cover you are looking for and the level of monthly premium in your budget.

We can help you with independent advice.

Complementary therapies

With growing acceptance of complementary therapy among the public, some Cash Plan policies will now pay out towards certain types of treatment.

The particular therapies and types of treatment that are covered are carefully defined in the policy terms, but may include the following:

• physiotherapy
• osteopathy
• chiropractic
• acupuncture
• homeopathy
• allergy testing
• acupuncture

Policies normally specify that the practitioner must be listed on an appropriate professional register for that therapy.

The cover provided by cash plans varies a lot. So do premium levels. If you are partcularly interested in complementary therapy cover, Halcyon Healthcare can advise you on the policy which is best for your needs and budget.