Review of Health Insurance from Saga
Information and review of the health care plan options offered by Saga insurance for the over 50s.
With more over 50s saying they want to buy private medical care to top up their NHS cover then specialist company Saga health insurance plans that are on offer are just perfect and tailored towards this group of people.
Saga offer four variations of their plans and are in general alignment with other health insurance companies and this is because the health insurance offered by Saga is underwritten by AXA PPP Health care. So if you are getting quotes get a quote from both companies if you like the policy to see if there are any differences between pricing and potential additional benefits from one insurer over the other.
Types of plans offered by Saga
There are four main types of insurance plans offered via Saga (with additional key treatments plans) and these are from their healthplan range and are titled as such: healthplan super, health plan secure, health plan saver and health plan support. Each plan offers what you would expect from health insurance with different limitations on the less expensive cover. Here’s a summary of each plan:
- Health Plan Super – is the top of the range plan with no limits on the claims each year except there are some limits on the benefits. You’ll get all the usual in-patient/ hospital fees and out patient fees paid as well as consulting fees. With this plan you also get access to complementary therapies and home nursing. There is also included cover for dental injuries as well as post operative recovery (which most insurers don’t cover). There is no upper age limit for this plan.
- Health Plan Super – is the same as the above but excludes the dental cover, psychiatric treatments and post recovery care. Limits on some benefits are lower.
- Health Plan Secure – is the same as the super plan but excludes private ambulance and complementary therapies. This is the most popular plan offered by Saga.
- Health Plan Support – is the lowest type of cover and is mainly for hospital treatments as it excludes all provisions for out patient treatments.
- Saga targeted health care- in addition to the general insurance plans outlined above Saga also offer 3 targeted areas for common problems for the over 50s and these include a joint replacement plan (for hips, knees, wrists and other joints) a key treatments plan for other issues (such as cataracts, gall bladder and hernias) and key treatments with heart cover.
With all of these plans you get to choose which hospital you want to be treated in, get access to a health care help line, get a daily cash sum if you take NHS treatment and have no overall maximum benefits in any year.
Saga also offer a choice of excess payments on each policy, no claims discounts (with an option to protect this), a 4 week wait option and optional cover for hypertension.
Other General Exclusions
As with all medical health insurance generally pre-existing conditions will not be covered although it’s worth contacting Saga for more information. Additionally, if you have been diagnosed by diabetes you will not be able to claim for various related conditions including stroke, cataract, arterial disease or ischaemic heart disease (ad others), if you are having treatment for high blood pressure you will not be able to claim for strokes, hypertension, heart disease or renal failure and if you are being diagnosed or treated for prostrate monitoring then you are not covered for any disorder of the prostrate.
Hospital List
You get access to over 300 private and NHS hospitals and can upgrade your membership to cover countrywide London hospitals and/ or central London hospitals. The list includes all the BMI hospital lists.
Getting a quote
It’s very easy to get a quote for any of the Saga health insurance plans and this can be undertaken online via their website or their UK call centre. There is no commitment and if you get a quote online you’ll get a 10% discount on your premiums as well as the first two months free.
