Getting Best Advice On Buying UK Health Insurance
Sunday, March 1st, 2009Health Insurance Advice. With health insurance having become as complicated as it is, understanding what kind of coverage you or your family needs and what type of policy best meets those requirements is a challenging task. The best way to get the right kind of policy is the get the right kind of advice. There are three sources for this advice and although it may take a little time, checking with all three is the best way forward.
- Check on the internet. Visit online forums and see what people have to say about their health insurance experiences. Read reviews posted online. Try to find chat rooms and chat with people who have made claims and see what their experience has been and what tips they can give you.
- Talk to an insurance adviser who can offer you insurance products from a variety of companies because he is not tied to any one. His advice will be free of prejudices caused by company loyalties. For this reason, try to stay away from agents who represent a specific company because their interest is in selling the companies products and external options are irrelevant to them.
- Contact the Association of British Insurers (ABI) or visit their website at: www.abi.org.uk. They are the industry body and have numerous publications on health insurance that will be of great help.
Having done your research and gotten all the advice you need, if not too much, the next step is to remember that you cannot blindly believe everything you have been told. Online reviews can be often influenced by biases arising out of ignorance. Opinions expressed may be motivated. And sometimes reviews of insurance products and companies maybe motivated by a variety of reason and bear no reflection of the truth.
Similar is the case of insurance advisers. While an adviser is supposed to be independent of any company influence since he will earn his commission whichever company you buy your policy from, the fact remains that even advisers are subject to influences and prejudices, both conscious and unconscious. For example a specific policy or company that is offering a higher commission may affect what he tells you, as may a low commission. Or any personal issues he has with a company.
Even the ABI maybe looking at insurance issues from a perspective that is different from yours, since your situation may be unique in some respects. What advice they give may be the best for the general public but may not be the best for you and any special circumstances you maybe subject too.
So what do you do if you cannot blindly rely on the advice you receive from all these sources? The answer is the find all the areas where if not all, at lease 2 of the 3 sources are in agreement. That is advice you can generally accept. If there is no agreement on an issue, the safest option is to go with what the ABI says. The advice may not be tailored specifically for you, but at least it will be free from bias and other prejudicial considerations.
And of course, do not be afraid to ask questions – as many and as often as you like. If the answers are not clear, keep asking until they are. Remember that the issue here is not the cost of the premium but your health and that of your family. Having the wrong policy and suddenly finding it does not offer you the coverage you need can leave you in an impossible situation because you have been depending on your health insurance and have no fall back option.
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