We built Speedwell Health because 7.3 million treatments are waiting on the NHS while the private market that could help remains confusing and hard to trust. Speedwell Health compares the whole UK health insurance market with three commitments: plain-English accessibility, honest trust-first advice, and simplicity — clear guides, real waiting-time data, and quotes without the noise.
- ✓The NHS waiting list stands at 7.3 million treatments — median wait 12.4 weeks.
- ✓Health insurance is genuinely useful, but the market is wrapped in jargon.
- ✓Speedwell Health's three commitments: accessibility, trust and simplicity.
The problem we kept running into
The NHS is brilliant. The waiting isn't. NHS England's May 2026 figures show 7.3 million treatments on the referral-to-treatment list, with a median wait of 12.4 weeks — and 1 in 12 people waiting 38.6 weeks or more. For a growing number of families and small businesses, that gap between referral and treatment is the moment private health insurance stops being an abstraction and becomes a real question.
And then the trouble starts. Try researching health insurance and you meet a wall of jargon — moratorium underwriting, outpatient limits, guided referrals, six-week options, IPT — none of it explained in language a normal person would use. The products themselves are often good. The way they're presented is not.
What comparison sites got wrong
Comparison sites should have fixed this. Mostly, they added noise: countdown banners, cashback gimmicks, 'exclusive deals' that aren't, and pages engineered to capture your phone number before they've told you anything useful. Health insurance is a considered purchase — often the most personal financial product someone buys — and it was being sold like car breakdown cover.
We also kept meeting the same quiet suspicion from people we spoke to: who's really paying for this, and does it change what I'm shown? It's a fair question, and most sites don't answer it plainly. We do: Speedwell Health is free to use because the FCA-regulated advisers we introduce you to pay us a referral fee if you take out a policy. That fee never changes the price you pay, and we explain it in why brokers are free.
The result of all that noise is predictable: people either give up and stay on the list, or buy the first brand they recognise without knowing whether a different plan would have suited them better for less. Neither outcome is good, and both are avoidable with clearer information. That gap — between a genuinely useful product and a genuinely unhelpful buying experience — is the gap Speedwell Health was built to close.
Our three commitments
Speedwell Health is built around three commitments. They're written down, they're public, and we'd like to be held to them.
- Accessibility. Every guide in plain UK English. Every piece of jargon defined the first time it appears. If a sentence needs a glossary, we rewrite the sentence.
- Trust. Numbers sourced, incentives disclosed, no pay-to-rank, no invented urgency. When the honest answer is 'health insurance probably isn't right for you', we say so.
- Simplicity. One clear answer at the top of every page, then the detail for people who want it. Compare the whole market, get a quote, and get on with your life.
Those commitments shape everything on the site: our guides, our NHS waiting times tracker built on real NHS England data, and our quote journey.
See what the market looks like for you
Where we are now
Today Speedwell Health compares plans from the UK's leading health insurers — Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality, WPA and The Exeter among them — for individuals, couples, families and businesses from two employees up. The library has grown to hundreds of guides, from how health insurance works to specialty-by-specialty waiting-time analysis, all held to the same standard: would this genuinely help someone who's never bought health insurance before?
We're not finished — the market changes, the NHS data updates monthly, and we'll keep publishing as both move. If you want the longer version of who we are, it's on our about page. If you just want to know what cover would cost you, that takes about two minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Speedwell Health created?
Speedwell Health was created because the NHS waiting list reached 7.3 million treatments while the private health insurance market remained wrapped in jargon and comparison-site noise. We wanted a place that explains cover in plain English, compares the whole market, and treats readers as people making a considered decision rather than leads to capture.
What makes Speedwell Health different from other comparison sites?
Speedwell Health publishes its incentives, never sells ranking positions to insurers, and leads every page with a plain-English answer rather than a data-capture form. We also publish NHS waiting-time data monthly, so the comparison is grounded in the real problem cover solves — not manufactured urgency.
What are Speedwell Health's three commitments?
Accessibility, trust and simplicity. Accessibility means plain UK English with every jargon term defined. Trust means sourced numbers, disclosed incentives and no pay-to-rank. Simplicity means one clear answer at the top of every page, with detail underneath for readers who want it.
Which insurers does Speedwell Health compare?
Speedwell Health compares the UK's leading health insurers, including Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality, WPA and The Exeter, plus challengers such as Freedom, Saga and Benenden in our guides. We cover individuals, couples, families and businesses with schemes from two employees.
Is Speedwell Health free to use?
Yes — Speedwell Health's guides, waiting-times tool and quote comparison cost you nothing. When you buy a policy through us, the insurer you choose pays us a commission, and your premium is typically the same as buying direct. The full explanation is in our post on how Speedwell Health makes money.