The main personal health cash plans — Simplyhealth, Westfield, Medicash and HSF — cost roughly £10–£25 a month and refund everyday costs: dental check-ups, glasses, physio and more, up to annual limits. Someone who uses the dentist and optician anyway can claim back more than they pay in. What no cash plan does is fund private surgery or cancer treatment.
- ✓Cash plans cost roughly £10–£25 a month and usually accept you without medical underwriting.
- ✓A mid-tier plan can pay back more than its premium if you use dental, optical and physio anyway.
- ✓No cash plan funds private surgery — an £12,000+ operation is entirely outside their world.
How health cash plans work
A cash plan is refund-by-receipt healthcare. You pay a fixed monthly premium, use everyday services — dentist, optician, physiotherapist — pay the bill yourself, then claim back 50–100% of the cost up to an annual limit per category. Limits reset each year, and most plans pay claims within days of you uploading a receipt.
Two features make them unusually easy to join. There's generally no medical underwriting — pre-existing conditions typically don't stop you claiming for everyday benefits, which is why cash plans suit people health insurance underwrites heavily. And premiums don't rise because you claimed. The trade-offs: modest waiting periods on some benefits (commonly one to six months, longer for anything pre-planned), and annual limits deliberately sized in the hundreds of pounds, not thousands.
Claiming is deliberately frictionless: photograph the receipt in the provider's app, and reimbursement typically lands within a few working days. Most plans also cover children at little or no extra cost, and several bundle extras that quietly carry real value — virtual GP access, an employee-assistance-style counselling line, and small cash payments for hospital stays or the birth of a child. None of it is dramatic; all of it is the point. Cash plans are healthcare's loyalty card, not its safety net.
The main providers, roughly compared
Plans and prices change often, so treat this as a sketch rather than gospel — and check current tables before buying.
| Provider | Personal plans from | Broad flavour |
|---|---|---|
| Simplyhealth | ~£11/month | The biggest name; clean app, strong dental/optical core, virtual GP access on most tiers |
| Westfield Health | ~£10/month | Long-established; generous mid-tier limits and hospital-stay cash benefits |
| Medicash | ~£10/month | Flexible add-ons and quick claims; popular as an employee benefit bought personally too |
| HSF Health Plan | ~£10/month | Charity-owned mutual; family cover included on many schemes at no extra cost |
Two structural notes: HSF and Westfield run as not-for-profits, which tends to show in limit generosity rather than price, and all four sell both personal plans and employer-paid versions — if your workplace already provides one, check its tier before buying personally, as topping up an employer plan is often cheaper than duplicating it.
The payback maths
Here's the arithmetic that decides whether a cash plan earns its keep, using a typical £15-a-month mid-tier (£180 a year) with indicative limits.
| Everyday cost | Typical bill | What a mid-tier plan pays back |
|---|---|---|
| Dental check-ups + hygienist | £120–£200/yr | Up to ~£100–£150/yr |
| Eye test + new glasses | £150–£300 | Up to ~£100–£150/yr |
| Physio after a niggly back (4 sessions) | £200–£280 | Often 75–100% back, within a ~£150–£350 therapy limit |
| Chiropody, acupuncture, sports massage | £35–£60/session | Within the same combined therapy limit |
| A night in hospital (NHS) | — | Small cash payment per night on many plans |
A household that genuinely uses dental, optical and the odd course of physio can claim back £300–£500 against £180 of premiums — the plan pays for itself. A household that visits the dentist once a year and never claims anything else is simply donating the difference. Cash plans reward admin discipline: keep receipts, claim everything.
When a cash plan beats insurance
- Your spending is routine, not catastrophic. If what irks you is £600 a year drifting out on dental, glasses and physio, a £15 plan targets exactly that — full health insurance at ~£80 a month doesn't cover routine dental or optical at all on standard policies.
- You'd be heavily underwritten. Cash plans skip medical underwriting, so people with pre-existing conditions who'd face exclusions on PMI can still claim everyday benefits from day one (after any waiting periods).
- Budget is the constraint. At £10–£25 a month, a cash plan is the cheapest way to get anything back from private-ish healthcare — and several plans include virtual GP access, which solves the appointment problem cheaply.
- You already have PMI through work. A personal cash plan plugs the everyday gaps a workplace policy leaves — the two stack neatly, and you can even claim a PMI excess back on some cash plans.
Everyday costs or the big stuff — or both
When it badly doesn't
Treating a cash plan as a substitute for health insurance is the category error to avoid: a cash plan is a budgeting tool for predictable costs, health insurance is protection against unpredictable big ones. Some plans do pay small consultation or scan contributions — typically capped in the low hundreds — which softens but doesn't close the gap. If skipping NHS queues for serious treatment is the goal, you need private medical insurance; if you want both jobs done, run a cash plan alongside a PMI policy. From around £48 a month combined (a basic PMI premium plus a £10 plan), a healthy 30-something can have the everyday costs and the catastrophic ones covered by the right tool each.
A fair test before you buy either: write down what last year actually cost you. If the list is check-ups, glasses and a course of physio, a cash plan wins on pure arithmetic. If the list includes a consultant referral, a scan, or a wait that worried you, the cash plan would have paid a token amount towards it — and that's the year that decides which product you actually needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best health cash plan in the UK?
There's no single best — Simplyhealth, Westfield Health, Medicash and HSF Health Plan are the main personal providers, all from around £10 a month. The right one is whichever plan's annual limits match your actual spending on dental, optical and therapies. Compare payback limits at your budget rather than brand names.
How much does a health cash plan cost per month?
Personal plans typically run £10–£25 a month, with most providers offering three or four tiers — higher tiers roughly double the annual claim limits rather than adding new categories. Children are often included free or cheaply. Premiums are flat-rated by tier, and claiming doesn't push your price up at renewal.
How much does a cash plan pay back for dental treatment?
A typical mid-tier plan (~£15 a month) refunds 50–100% of dental costs up to around £100–£150 a year — enough for check-ups, hygienist visits and a contribution to fillings. Top tiers stretch to £200+. Major work like implants far exceeds any cash plan limit; they're built for routine dentistry, not reconstruction.
Are health cash plans worth it?
If you already spend on dental, optical and the odd therapy session, usually yes — a household claiming £300–£500 a year against £180 of premiums comes out ahead. If you rarely use those services, no. The maths is knowable in advance: total your last year's receipts and compare against the tier's limits.
What's the difference between a health cash plan and health insurance?
A cash plan refunds small, routine costs — dental, optical, physio — up to a few hundred pounds a year, from £10–£25 a month. Health insurance funds big, unpredictable treatment — diagnostics, surgery, cancer care — at around £80 a month on average. One is a budgeting tool, the other is genuine risk protection.
Do health cash plans cover pre-existing conditions?
Broadly yes for everyday benefits — cash plans generally have no medical underwriting, so existing conditions don't block you from claiming for dental, optical or physio. Watch two caveats: waiting periods (commonly one to six months, longer for pre-planned treatment) and specific exclusions on some benefits. Check the plan's terms rather than assuming.
Do cash plans have waiting periods before I can claim?
Usually, yes — commonly one to six months on some benefits, and longer (often around 9–12 months) for anything pre-planned like known dental work, precisely to stop people joining just before a big bill. Some benefits are claimable immediately. Each provider publishes its waiting periods per benefit, so check before joining.
Can I have a health cash plan and health insurance at the same time?
Yes, and the combination is genuinely complementary: PMI covers consultations, diagnostics and surgery; the cash plan covers routine dental, optical and therapies that PMI excludes. Some cash plans will even refund your PMI excess. Many people with workplace health insurance add a personal cash plan for exactly this reason.
Is Simplyhealth or Westfield better for a personal cash plan?
Neither is universally better — Simplyhealth's strengths are its app, virtual GP access and dental/optical core; Westfield's mid tiers are generous on therapy limits and hospital cash benefits. Prices overlap at £10–£25 a month. Compare the specific limits at the tier you'd buy against your own receipts from the last year.
Will a cash plan pay anything towards private surgery or a private MRI?
Not meaningfully. Cash plans exclude private surgery entirely, and where they pay towards consultations or scans the limits are typically capped in the low hundreds of pounds — against £400–£800 for a private MRI and five figures for surgery. For that layer of cost you need private medical insurance or self-pay.