Health Insurance Cover from Tesco
The giant supermarket Tesco now offers health and life insurance products to their customers and here’s a review of the cover and costs of their plans.
Tesco health insurance is actually underwritten by AXA PPP healthcare who are in themselves one of the largest UK insurance companies. The prices that Tesco offer their customers are broadly inline with this insurer and the same for the child cover plans so it’s up to you whether you want your supermarket to cover you or AXA directly.
There are a few bonuses that come with the Tesco product such as a £50 gift card that you can spend in store although there are a few conditions attached.
Product review
With Tesco there is no medical required and cover currently starts at £27 per month which sounds cheap for health insurance so just what do you get for this low amount ?
The basic plan which can be reduced even further to £21 per month if you opt for a 6 week wait (meaning if the NHS can treat you within 6 weeks you’ll get NHS treatment but if you can’t then you go private). The basic cover is for operations and procedures only which includes what most people want from private health insurance and includes:
- all cost of any surgery that you may require
- the cost of any treatment including a 1 day or overnight hospital stay
- chemotherapy and radiotherapy
- £100 excess
- fees paid directly by the insurer
- access to private hospitals at a time convenient to you
In addition to the basic cover mentioned above you can add in optional cover as follows:
Option 1 with tests and consultations includes:
- Cover for referrals of £1,000 per year
- Specialist fees and diagnostic tests
- Faster access for referrals for tests and consultations
Option 2 for additional therapies you may want includes:
- Yearly limit of £1,000 per year for:
- homeopathic treatments
- Acupunture
- Physiotheraphy
- Chiropractic treatment
You can of course choose to add both option 1 and 2 to your plan. For the example above this would increase the monthly premiums by an additional £45 per month (the example is for a 35 year old woman living outside of London so obviously costs will depend on your own circumstances and where you live in the UK)
Range of cover included and not included:
Like all health insurance Tesco will not cover you for pre-existing conditions which you must mention on your application form however if you are completely free of these for a period of 2 years you may be able to get them added back into the policy by contacting the insurer. Other ongoing treatments you already undertake are also excluded. See the policy documents for more information.
With this private insurance you get to choose the hospital to have your operation, get private ambulance cover, have hospital type treatment at home and access to a helpline should you need it. There is also no maximum age to join which is a great bonus because some insurers have age limits.
Tesco can also cover your children at a cost of £9.99 per month.
No claims discount
Believe it or not you can now get no claims discounts on your premiums which not all insurance companies offers. When you join you get a 35% no claims discount immediately and this can increase to a maximum of 55% as the policy continues if of course you don’t claim.
Choice of hospitals
There are over 250 private hospitals you can choose to use with the Tesco health insurance plan including St. John’s institute of dermatology, Guy’s and St. Thomas, King’s College London, Abbey Churchill CT/ MRI scanning, the Gainsborough clinic, Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, Lister Hospital, Cadogan Clinic, Guy’s Nuffield House, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, St. Bartholomews and many, many more – see the website for more information.
Our view: The AXA Tesco health insurance policy looks like a good deal for most people with reasonable rates.
