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Guides
Business
- Absence management for small employers
- Accountancy health insurance
- Adding and removing employees from your scheme
- Getting employees to use their health benefits
- Benefits benchmarking 2026
- A benefits strategy on £50 per head
- Best business health insurance
- BIK tax on health insurance: worked examples
- Bupa vs AXA Health for business
- Is business health insurance tax deductible?
- Getting business quotes: what you'll need
- Care home health insurance
- Charity health insurance
- Class 1A NIC on health insurance
- Writing a company health cover policy
- Construction health insurance
- Consultancy health insurance
- Health insurance for contractors
- Corporation tax relief on health insurance
- Creative agency health insurance
- Dental and optical staff benefits
- Dental practice health insurance
- Broker vs direct for business cover
- Director's health insurance: the maths
- Employee assistance programmes
- Ecommerce health insurance
- Can employees opt out of company health insurance?
- Estate agency health insurance
- Farm health insurance
- Health insurance for a 50-employee company
- Financial services health insurance
- 10 first health scheme mistakes
- Health insurance for a 5-person company
- Franchise health insurance
- The full benefits stack, priced
- GP practice health insurance
- Group critical illness cover
- Group income protection
- Group life insurance
- Group vs individual health insurance
- Health cash plans for employees
- Health insurance in your company accounts
- Hospitality health insurance
- Health insurance for 100+ employees
- Husband-and-wife Ltd health insurance
- Law firm health insurance
- Logistics health insurance
- Managing long-term sickness in a small firm
- Manufacturing health insurance
- Menopause at work: what good employers do
- Building a workplace mental health strategy
- Health insurance for multi-site businesses
- Occupational health vs insurance
- P11D deadlines for health insurance
- Health insurance for partnerships and LLPs
- Payrolling benefits from April 2027
- Registering to payroll benefits early
- Health insurance vs group income protection
- Competing with big-company benefits
- Recruitment agency health insurance
- Health insurance for remote and hybrid teams
- The renewal negotiation checklist
- Retail health insurance
- Health benefits vs pay rises: the retention maths
- Return-to-work programmes: how insurers help
- Salary sacrifice and health insurance
- Announcing your health scheme to staff
- Reviewing your scheme's claims data
- Schools health insurance
- Health benefits for seasonal and temporary staff
- Small business health insurance
- Sole trader health insurance options
- Switching your business scheme mid-term
- Tech startup health insurance
- Health insurance for a 10-person team
- Trivial benefits and health perks: the £50 rule
- Health insurance for a 25-employee company
- UK and overseas staff cover
- Health insurance for umbrella company workers
- VAT and IPT on business health insurance
- Virtual GP plans for staff
- Vitality vs Aviva for business
- Wellbeing allowances vs benefits
Costs & comparing
- Average cost of health insurance
- Cheapest health insurance UK
- The real cost of waiting
- 10 ways to cut your costs
- Health insurance costs by age
- The excess, explained
- Health insurance with no excess
- Why renewals go up
- Hospital lists explained
- Insurance Premium Tax
- Is health insurance worth it?
- London costs more — why
- No-claims discounts
- Smokers & vapers
- Why is it so expensive?
Insurers compared
- Aviva health insurance review
- Aviva vs The Exeter
- AXA Health vs Aviva
- AXA Health vs Vitality
- Benenden Health review
- Benenden vs Bupa
- Benenden vs private health insurance
- Best for digital GP access
- Best cover for cancer
- Best health insurance for families
- Best cover for mental health
- Best for outpatient cover
- Best health insurance for over 60s
- Best private health insurance UK
- Bupa health insurance review
- Bupa vs Aviva
- Bupa vs AXA Health
- Bupa vs Benenden vs Simplyhealth
- Bupa vs Vitality
- Bupa vs WPA
- Freedom Health Insurance review
- Cover for HCA & top London hospitals
- National Friendly health insurance review
- Saga health insurance review
- Simplyhealth review
- The Exeter health insurance review
- Vitality health insurance review
- Vitality vs Aviva
- Vitality vs WPA
- Westfield Health review
- WPA health insurance review
- WPA vs The Exeter
NHS & waiting times
- Stuck on a waiting list? Every option
- Private, then back to the NHS
- GP referrals for private care
- Medical loans and finance
- Your rights when the NHS 18-week target is breached
- The NHS cash benefit
- Can't find an NHS dentist?
- Your NHS Right to Choose
- NHS vs private: is care better?
- How NHS waiting times work
- Private A&E alternatives
- Private rooms in NHS hospitals
- Right to Choose: ADHD and autism assessment
- Self-pay private treatment
- Treatment abroad vs UK private
The basics
- Best health cash plans
- Broker vs going direct
- Cancelling your policy
- Cancer insurance vs health insurance
- Switching with CPME
- Does cover start straight away?
- Guided referrals
- Jargon glossary A–Z
- Health vs life insurance
- How health insurance works
- How to claim
- How to compare health insurance
- How to read a policy in 10 minutes
- Income protection vs health insurance
- Moratorium vs full medical underwriting
- Outpatient limits explained
- The six-week wait option
- 10 questions before buying
- Treatment-only health insurance
- What is an IPID?
Treatments & waits
- ACL reconstruction: NHS vs private
- Bunion surgery: NHS vs private
- Carpal tunnel release: NHS vs private
- Cataract surgery: NHS vs private
- Private circumcision: cost & process
- Private ear wax removal
- Endometriosis: NHS vs private
- Fixed-price surgery packages
- Food intolerance testing
- Gallbladder removal: NHS vs private
- Gut microbiome testing
- Haemorrhoid treatment: NHS vs private
- Hernia repair: NHS vs private
- Hip replacement: NHS vs private
- Hysterectomy: NHS vs private
- Knee arthroscopy: NHS vs private
- Knee replacement: NHS vs private
- Laser eye surgery costs
- Men's health check costs
- Private PET scan costs
- Private ADHD assessment: cost and speed
- Private allergy testing
- Private blood tests explained
- Private cardiologist costs
- Private colonoscopy: cost & waits
- Private consultation costs
- Private CT scan: cost & speed
- Private dermatologist costs
- Private echocardiogram: cost & speed
- Private endoscopy: cost & waits
- Full-body MRI scans
- Private GP appointment costs
- Private gynaecologist costs
- Private health MOTs: worth it?
- Private hearing test costs
- Private hormone blood tests
- Private hospital price list UK
- Private liver function tests
- Private mammogram
- Private menopause clinic costs
- Private MRI scans
- Private neurologist costs
- Private physiotherapy cost
- Private PSA test
- Private psychiatrist costs
- Private sleep study costs
- Private smear test: cost & timing
- Private therapy costs
- Private thyroid tests
- Private ultrasound: cost & speed
- Private urologist costs
- Private X-ray costs
- Prostate surgery: NHS vs private
- Septoplasty: NHS vs private
- Shoulder surgery: NHS vs private
- Slipped disc surgery: NHS vs private
- Tonsillectomy: NHS vs private
- Varicose vein treatment: NHS vs private
- Private vasectomy: cost & waits
- Wisdom teeth removal: NHS vs private
What's covered
- ADHD assessment cover
- A&E and emergency cover
- Allergy cover
- Autism assessment cover
- Back pain cover
- Cancer cover
- Chronic conditions and cover
- Cosmetic surgery cover
- Does health insurance cover counselling and CBT?
- Dental cover explained
- Dermatology cover
- Scans & diagnostics cover
- Fertility and IVF cover
- GP appointments cover
- Hearing loss cover
- IBS and IBD cover
- Long Covid cover
- Menopause cover
- Mental health cover
- Optical cover explained
- Osteopathy and chiropractic cover
- Physiotherapy cover
- Pre-existing conditions
- Pregnancy and childbirth cover
- Prescriptions and medication cover
- Sleep apnoea cover
- Sports injuries cover
- Weight-loss treatment & medication cover
Who it's for
- Health insurance for children
- Health insurance for couples
- Cover after cancer
- Expats returning to the UK
- Family health insurance
- Age limits: joining and renewing
- Health insurance with diabetes
- Cover for visa holders & new residents
- Health insurance in retirement
- Health insurance with high blood pressure
- High-net-worth private healthcare
- Men's health and private cover
- Health insurance for new parents
- Health insurance for over 50s
- Health insurance for over 60s
- Health insurance for over 70s
- Health insurance for over 80s
- Using your pension for private healthcare
- Buying cover while pregnant
- Health insurance for the self-employed
- Single parent health insurance
- Health insurance for students
- Health insurance for women
- Health insurance in your 20s
Blog
- The ADHD assessment backlog
- AI in underwriting
- Asking AI about health insurance
- Autumn enrolment for January schemes
- What benefits cost per head in 2026
- Private GPs in London: costs and how to choose
- Private hospitals in Birmingham: your options
- Private hospitals in Bristol and the South West
- Private hospitals in Leeds and Yorkshire
- London's private hospitals: a field guide
- Private hospitals in Manchester: your options
- The best health insurance right now
- Speedwell Health for business: the hub
- 'We cover cancer' means eight things
- Cancer drugs: NHS approval and the CDF
- Cash plans under £15
- Children's mental health waits: the quiet crisis
- How to choose a private consultant
- The claims-paid transparency gap
- Your NHS consultant probably works privately too
- Your 14-day cooling-off rights
- Health insurance cost at every age
- Your cover at 65, 70 and 75
- Dental tourism: the full-mouth truth
- NHS dentistry in 2026: the access problem
- 1 in 4 wait six weeks-plus for diagnostics
- Digital GP services compared
- The rise and rise of the digital GP
- The excess sweet spot
- Building a family health budget
- Family policies before the school year
- Family cover in 2026
- Reading insurer complaints data
- Four-day weeks and health benefits
- Weight-loss drugs and insurers in 2026
- The 8am scramble: GP access
- What HR knows about your scheme
- The clause that picks your consultant
- Medical inflation: why treatment costs rise faster than everything else
- Hip replacement in three weeks
- Spire vs Nuffield vs Circle vs HCA: the hospital groups compared
- Reading hospital quality data
- 105,000 have waited over a year. Who are they?
- The insurer landscape, summer 2026
- IPT budget watch
- Is private health insurance a scam?
- Menopause support goes mainstream
- Mental health cover compared
- MHFA is not a strategy
- Where moratorium cover goes wrong
- Desk jobs are an MSK problem too
- 12 health insurance myths
- The new-tax-year cover checklist
- The NHS App: what it can actually do
- 'Free at the point of use', examined
- NHS waiting times, May 2026
- No-excess policies: which work
- Northern Ireland's waiting lists: a case apart
- The 1-in-12 problem: NHS waiting's long tail
- Over-50s: the smart buys of 2026
- April 2027: BIK reporting moves into payroll
- Physio-first: the smartest route into MSK treatment
- The rise of physio self-referral
- The postcode effect
- What cover costs, autumn 2026
- Presenteeism: the hidden absence problem
- Private healthcare in Cardiff and South Wales
- Private healthcare in Edinburgh
- Private healthcare in Glasgow
- Private healthcare in Liverpool and Merseyside
- Why private healthcare keeps growing
- Private healthcare in Newcastle and the North East
- Private healthcare in Sheffield and South Yorkshire
- Can private hospitals absorb the NHS backlog?
- Private prescriptions: costs and when they're worth it
- What insurers ask for a quote
- Renewal letters decoded
- The retention maths for founders
- RTT: how the NHS waiting clock works
- Salary sacrifice: what still works
- Reading satisfaction surveys
- A health scheme live in five days
- Scotland: private healthcare and NHS waits
- Getting a private second opinion
- Britain's self-pay boom
- Britain's sickness absence problem
- How small firms beat corporate benefits
- Startup benefits: seed to Series B
- Industrial action and NHS waits
- Subscription GP vs health insurance
- The renewal switching checklist
- £30 cover vs £90 cover
- Travel insurance vs health insurance
- The true cost of a 40-week wait
- Introducing our NHS waiting times tool
- Wales: the longest waits in Britain?
- Why health insurance brokers are free
- Why we built Speedwell Health
- What winter does to waiting lists