In this article, we take a look at General & Medical explaining how its health insurance cover works and how much it costs. We also explain what is not covered by General & Medical healthcare as well as the pros and cons of choosing a General & Medical healthcare plan. We also explain how to qualify for £100 cashback when you take out a General & Medical health insurance policy.
About General & Medical
General & Medical Healthcare is owned by General & Medical Securities Ltd. and underwritten by General & Medical Insurance Ltd which is based in Guernsey. It is associated with Lloyds of London and is a member of the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) as well as the Managing General Agents Association (MGAA).
General & Medical Healthcare started out as a provider of finance, leasing and general insurance for UK-based medical professionals and went on to become a private healthcare scheme provider. It has over 30 years of experience in providing personal private health insurance and its members can access over 1,000 hospitals and medical facilities. General & Medical Healthcare provides health insurance directly to customers as well as through a network of insurance brokers providing a number of options to suit different budgets and needs.
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General & Medical health insurance
General & Medical health insurance provides 4 tiers of health insurance with the option to upgrade within each tier. 'Essentials' is General & Medical's most cost-effective and basic range of private health insurance products. Its 'Everyday' option is a comprehensive tier of health cover and its 'LifeStyle' tier of cover offers a more advanced range of health cover. Its highest level of private health insurance is its Elite option and we explain what is included with each of General and Medical's health insurance options within the tables below.
How does General & Medical health insurance work?
General & Medical offers private medical insurance for individuals, couples and families to provide cover to fund private healthcare. There are a number of different levels of cover to choose from and the plans can be tailored to suit the needs and budget of each policyholder. The cover is available from the age of 16 up to age 75 and there is also an option to buy child-only health insurance.
The medical terminology used to describe health insurance benefits can be confusing, making it difficult to comprehend what is and isn't covered. It can be valuable to speak with a specialist health insurance broker* who will help you make sense of the differences between the different tiers of cover offered by General & Medical. They can also help you compare the best health insurance plans from a range of providers, ensuring you get the best policy for your needs.
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General & Medical In-patient benefits
Below is a summary of General & Medical's in-patient benefits. While many in-patient benefits are included within all tiers of cover, the level of cover varies with the upper tiers offering higher financial limits for annual claims.
| Benefits | Essentials Standard | Essentials Plus | Everyday Standard | Everyday Plus | Lifestyle Standard | Lifestyle Plus | Elite |
| Accommodation, Nursing Care, Surgeon & Anaesthetist Fees |  |
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| Theatre Costs, Intensive Care Costs, Drugs, Dressings & Consumables | |
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| Diagnostics including MRI & CT Scans | |
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| Physiotherapy | |
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| Oro-surgical Operations/Procedures | |
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| Treatment for Cardiovascular Conditions |  |
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| Parent Accompanying Child (under 18) | |
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General & Medical Out-patient benefits
Below is a summary of General & Medical's out-patient benefits. Again, while many out-patient benefits are included within all tiers of cover, the level of cover varies with the upper tiers offering higher financial limits for annual claims.
| Benefits | Essentials Standard | Essentials Plus | Everyday Standard | Everyday Plus | Lifestyle Standard | Lifestyle Plus | Elite |
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Initial consultation & specialist fees including diagnostics & initial MRI & CT Scans |
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Subsequent consultation & specialist fees, diagnostics including MRI & CT Scans |
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Physiotherapy & Complementary Medicine |
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Treatment for Cardiovascular Conditions |
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Out-patient Mental Health |
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General & Medical Cancer cover
Below is a summary of General & Medical's cancer cover. As with its out-patient and in-patient cover, many cancer benefits are included within all tiers of cover, however, the level of cover varies with the upper tiers offering higher financial limits for annual claims.
| Benefits | Essentials Standard | Essentials Plus | Everyday Standard | Everyday Plus | Lifestyle Standard | Lifestyle Plus | Elite |
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Treatment for Cancer whether or not relating to an inpatient admission. Includes Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, Post Cancer Services, Advice on Cancer Treatment, Artificial Feeding, Speech Therapy & Monitoring |
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Cosmetic or Aesthetic Treatment |
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Anti-Cancer Drugs, Preventative Treatment, Biological Therapies, Genetic Testing, Bone Strengthening Drugs & Bone Marrow or Stem Cell Transplants |
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External Prosthesis relating to a claim for cancer |
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Hospice Care (£75 donation per night) For Policy Lifetime |
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Palliative Treatment (and/or End of Life Care) For Policy Lifetime |
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General & Medical Cash benefits
Below we summarise General & Medical's cash benefit cover. Cash benefits are payable up to the values shown for each type of claim under the tier of cover you choose.
| Benefits | Essentials Standard | Essentials Plus | Everyday Standard | Everyday Plus | Lifestyle Standard | Lifestyle Plus | Elite |
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NHS Cash Benefit (£250 per night/up to 30 nights) |
£7,500 | £7,500 | £7,500 | £7,500 | £7,500 | £7,500 | £7,500 |
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Life Cash Benefit |
£500 | £500 | £2,000 | £2,000 | £2,000 | £2,000 | £3,000 |
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Personal Accident Cash Benefit (limits apply per accident) |
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£500 | £1,000 | £2,000 |
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Temporary Disablement Cash Benefit per month for up to 6 months |
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£100 | £100 | £100 | £100 |
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Critical Illness Cash Benefit |
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£2,000 | £2,000 | £2,000 | £2,000 | £2,000 |
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Cover for Boarding Pets Cash Benefit |
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£250 |
General & Medical Maternity cash benefits
- Complications of pregnancy - Covered under all cover levels except the Essentials Standard and Essentials Plus options
- Maternity cash benefit - Pays £100 if you have Lifestyle Standard cover, £150 if you have Lifestyle Plus and £250 if you have Elite cover
- Private maternity costs - Covered up to £5,000 under the Elite option only
General & Medical Dental, Optical & Audiology cash benefits
Dental, Optical and Audiology cover is only included with General & Medical's Elite tier of health insurance.
- Dental - Covered up to £400 on Elite tier only
- Optical - Covered up to £250 on Elite tier only
- Audiology - Covered up to £250 on Elite tier only
General & Medical additional benefits
A number of additional benefits are included within General & Medical health insurance, however, they are dependent on the level of cover you choose. Many benefits come with financial limits to how much you can claim in a policy year with the highest limit reserved for General & Medical Elite policyholders.
Additional benefits available on all plan tiers
- Health & Wellbeing Services
- Stress Counselling Helpline
- Lifestyle rewards
- 24 Hour GP Advice Line
- GP Video Consultation Appointments
Additional benefits available on some plan tiers
- Home nursing
- Private ambulance
- Hospital parking charges
- Emergency medical cover outside the UK
- Monitoring of pre-cured eligible condition
Additional benefits only available on Elite tier
- Prescription costs
- GP Minor Surgery
- Private GP services
General & Medical optional benefits
General & Medical health insurance policies can be tailored as required with a number of additional optional benefits available. We explain each of the options below:
Hospital choices
General & Medical offer health insurance customers a choice of hospital lists so that they can select one that offers them access to hospitals they are likely to use at a price that suits them. The different hospital tiers are:
- First Choice - Provides access to hospitals and clinics across the UK that General & Medical has associations with and includes Spire Healthcare, Ramsay Healthcare, Circle Health Group and many of the Nuffield hospitals.
- Freedom - Provides access to all of the hospitals under First Choice but additionally allows them to access private facilities at a number of NHS hospital
- Premium - Provides access to all of the First Choice and Freedom hospitals and premium hospitals with specialist facilities that may cost a lot more
In-patient mental health cover
Mental health cover is included as standard within the General & Medical health insurance but you can upgrade this to include in-patient mental health treatment at an extra cost.
Pre-existing conditions cover
It is often disappointing when you already have a medical condition that won't be covered by your health insurance policy because it preceded the commencement of your cover. To tackle this, General & Medical offers an upgrade to cover 2 of 14 medical conditions by paying extra. You will be covered for up to £1,000 per policy year. If you do not use the benefit then the cover can roll up each year up to a maximum £10,000 of cover after 10 years. You can always go through the full underwriting when you apply to check whether your conditions would be covered without the upgrade before choosing this option.
The conditions you can choose from include acne, arthritis, asthma, carpal tunnel syndrome, crohn's disease, diabetes, eczema,fibrocystic breast disease, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, glaucoma, hypertension, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, varicose veins
Child cover
With General & Medical you only pay for the first child added to your personal health insurance policy - any subsequent children you add to the policy are added at no extra cost.
Multi-trip travel cover
General & Medical offers health insurance customers the option to add travel insurance at an extra cost per person covered on the policy. The multi-trip travel insurance upgrade offers customers Europe, Worldwide (excluding USA and Canada) and Worldwide (including USA and Canada). General & Medical's multi-trip travel insurance covers, unlimited trips within 12 months, medical expenses, personal accident, cover of cancellation, loss of money, tickets and documents, loss of luggage, travel delay and legal advice and expenses.
What does General & Medical health insurance not cover?
As with any health insurance plan, General & Medical's health insurance will not cover you for a number of events. Commonly, treatment for chronic conditions, sleep disorders and self-inflicted injuries are not covered by health insurance plans and General & Medical is no different. Additionally, you will find that the following are not covered by even the highest tier of General & Medical health plans:
- Treatment of congenital defects or conditions which are part of the ageing process
- Regular or long term renal dialysis
- Treatment of attention deficit disorders
- HIV/AIDs and any related condition
- Organ transplants and replacements
- Treatment arising from nuclear, chemical or biological contamination, war, civil disorders or riots
- Birth control, conception, sexual problems and gender reassignment
Cashback OfferGet the best value health insurance
Our partner Howden Life & Health will help tailor cover for you and your family.
- Compare all the top UK providers
- Up to £100 cashback for new customers
- Free Will available
- Quick free quotations
How much does General & Medical health insurance cost?
General & Medical health insurance prices are based on your age, location and the number of people covered under your health insurance plan. We've provided some example premiums in our table below.
Monthly cost of General & Medical health insurance
| Person's age | General & Medical Essentials | General & Medical Everyday | General & Medical Lifestyle | General & Medical Elite |
| 20 | £13.34 | £17.68 | £25.88 | £44.20 |
| 30 | £18.06 | £23.94 | £35.04 | £59.85 |
| 40 | £24.02 | £31.96 | £46.78 | £79.91 |
| 50 | £31.94 | £41.94 | £61.38 | £104.84 |
Monthly cost of General & Medical health insurance with optional plan upgrade
| Person's age | General & Medical Essentials Plus | General & Medical Everyday Plus | General & Medical Lifestyle Plus |
| 20 | £20.09 | £23.31 | £34.40 |
| 30 | £27.20 | £31.55 | £46.57 |
| 40 | £36.32 | £42.13 | £62.18 |
| 50 | £47.66 | £55.28 | £81.59 |
How does General & Medical health insurance excess work?
Most health insurance policies apply a policy excess, which is the amount that you contribute towards the overall cost of your medical treatment. You can bring down the cost of your health insurance plan by increasing the amount of policy excess that you are willing to pay. You can also choose to have your excess applied per claim or per policy year. It can be difficult to say which of these options is better for you as you are unlikely to be able to predict when you will make a claim and how long that claim will last.
General & Medical health insurance excess options
- £0
- £75
- £100
- £150
- £200
- £250
- £500
- £1,000
- £2,000
- £3,000
General & Medical health insurance reviews
General & Medical's health insurance is rated 4.3 out of 5 stars based on over 200 reviews on the independent customer review site TrustPilot, rating it 'Great' overall. Over 60% of customers who reviewed General & Medical Healthcare awarded it 5 stars for good customer service, a simple website and ease of application. Customers who reviewed General & Medical giving them less than 4 stars accounted for 38% of reviews and these described some delays during claims, a poor experience dealing with the claims team and some were unhappy with price hikes. Some of the reviews cited that the cover was difficult to understand - something we have outlined in this review - and is a reason why you may want to consider taking advice to ensure you get the right level of cover. This will help to avoid disappointment when it comes to claiming.
Defaqto rates General & Medical's top-tier health insurance products 'Elite' and 'Lifestyle' 5 stars, while its 'Essentials' and 'Everyday' products receive a 3-star Defaqto rating.
General & Medical health insurance pros and cons
Pros
- NHS cash benefits paid
- Variety of levels of cover to suit different budgets
- Options to fix your price for 2 to 3 years
- Option to include up to 2 specified pre-existing medical conditions
- Lifestyle rewards provide access to over 2,000 offers and deals to policyholders
Cons
- Lower tiers of cover provide limited cancer cover
- Does not offer a No claims discount
- Out-patient cover is not included with the lowest tiers of cover (unless treatment relates to in-patient treatment)
- GP minor surgery, prescription costs and private GP only available with the highest tier or cover
Is General & Medical health insurance any good?
General & Medical offer a very comprehensive range of health insurance solutions to suit different budgets and needs. The policies offer a range of ways to enhance the core health cover and there are options to adjust the policy excess and hospital choice which can bring down the cost of your health insurance too. There are also a number of additional benefits such as private maternity costs, minor GP surgery and private GP cover on offer, however, you would need to choose the Elite cover - which is the highest level of cover - in order to access these.
While having many options to choose from will be attractive to many, some may find the level of choice confusing and so it may be helpful to speak with a specialist health insurance broker. They can help you to choose the best option for your budget and they can also help compare the General & Medical health insurance options with others in the market. Additionally, for a limited time, as a Money to the Masses reader, you will receive £100 cashback if you take out any health insurance policy*. Offer ends 31st July 2024.
If a link has an * beside it this means that it is an affiliated link. If you go via the link, Money to the Masses may receive a small fee which helps keep Money to the Masses free to use. The following link can be used if you do not wish to help Money to the Masses - Howden Life & Health
