How to Get Cheaper Private Health Insurance (Without Cutting the Cover That Matters)

Private health insurance doesn’t have to be expensive — but the difference between a well-structured policy and a lazily-bought one can be hundreds of pounds a year for effectively the same cover. The trick is knowing which levers actually lower the premium without quietly stripping out the protection you’d claim on. Here are nine proven ways to get cheaper private health insurance, from the biggest savings to the finer tweaks.

1. Add a voluntary excess

The excess is what you pay towards a claim before the insurer pays the rest. Choosing a higher voluntary excess — say £250 or £500 — can noticeably reduce your premium, because you’re sharing more of the smaller-claim risk. If you’re mainly insuring against a big, serious event (surgery, cancer), a higher excess is often the smartest single saving: you lower the monthly cost and still have the cover that matters most.

2. Trim the hospital list

The list of hospitals you can use is the single biggest driver of price. Full “open” access to every private hospital — including the premium central-London ones — costs a lot more than a “guided” or regional list. If you’re happy to be treated at good hospitals near you rather than the most expensive names in the country, choosing a trimmed hospital list can cut the premium significantly with no impact on the quality of treatment.

Most people never need a flagship London hospital. Paying for access to one “just in case” is where a lot of premium quietly goes.

3. Consider the six-week option

This is one of the most effective ways to lower the cost. With a six-week wait option, if the NHS can treat you within six weeks, you use the NHS; if the wait is longer, your policy steps in and treats you privately. Because you’re only claiming when the NHS is slow, the premium is meaningfully lower. If your main worry is being stuck on a long list — which is most people’s — this is an excellent middle ground.

4. Right-size your outpatient cover

Outpatient care (consultations, scans and diagnostics that don’t need a hospital bed) is where policies quietly differ on price. Unlimited outpatient cover is great but costs more; a capped outpatient limit (say £500 or £1,000 a year) is cheaper and perfectly adequate for many people. Match the limit to how you’d realistically use it rather than defaulting to “unlimited”.

5. Drop the extras you won’t use

Policies bundle add-ons — dental, optical, therapies, enhanced mental health, worldwide cover. Each adds to the premium. They can be genuinely valuable, but only if you’ll use them. Strip out the extras that don’t fit your life and you keep the core cover while trimming the cost.

6. Pay annually rather than monthly

Many insurers add an interest-style loading to monthly payments. If you can pay the premium annually, you often save a few per cent compared with spreading it across twelve instalments. A small saving, but a genuine one for no change in cover.

7. Get the underwriting right

Underwriting doesn’t just affect what’s covered — it can affect price and value. Moratorium underwriting is simplest; full medical underwriting can sometimes give better terms if your history is clean. Choosing the right basis for your situation avoids paying for cover you can’t use, or excluding things unnecessarily.

8. Don’t over-insure for your life stage

A fit 30-year-old and a 65-year-old need different things. Buying the most comprehensive plan on the market when a solid mid-tier would cover everything you’re realistically likely to claim on is a common way to overpay. Cover should match your needs and stage of life, not the glossiest brochure.

9. Compare a wide panel of insurers — especially at renewal

This is the big one, and the most overlooked. Premiums tend to rise at renewal, and insurers rely on customers auto-renewing without checking. Shopping a wide panel of insurers — or having a broker do it for you — at each renewal is consistently the single largest saving available. You benchmark your existing cover against multiple insurers and only move if it genuinely makes sense.

The most expensive thing you can do with health insurance is auto-renew without checking. Loyalty rarely pays; comparison almost always does.

The one thing not to do

Don’t chase the lowest price by cutting the cover you’d actually claim on. A rock-bottom policy that excludes cancer drugs, caps outpatient care to almost nothing, or restricts you to a tiny hospital list isn’t cheap — it’s a false economy. The aim is the lowest price for the cover you need, not the lowest price full stop.

Let us find the savings for you

Because ComparePMI uses a wide panel of insurers, we can model these levers across multiple insurers, show you the trade-offs in plain English, and find the lowest price that still protects what matters. It’s free, impartial, and there’s no obligation — whether you’re buying for the first time or your renewal has just jumped.