For the majority of claims, medical treatment begins with a GP referral for specialist treatment. This can either be your NHS GP or a private GP. Any onward treatment is managed by working closely with your private medical insurer, to ensure that you have quick and easy access to the right medical treatment.

Private medical insurance is designed to work alongside all the services offered by the NHS, but focuses on providing quicker access to treatment for acute medical conditions. PMI members can still use all services offered by the NHS. But with pressures on the NHS to meet healthcare demands growing rapidly, compounded by increasingly stretched resources, PMI can play a complementary role.

Private medical insurance doesn't usually cover pre-exisiting conditions, but you can still cover yourself for any conditions that may arise in the future. Contact us today to find out if we can help you.

Private health insurance doesn't normally cover long term or chronic conditions or any pre-existing conditions.

There are also other things to consider that are not covered within a private health insurance policy:

• Any regular monitoring or treatment of long- term (chronic) conditions, like diabetes or allergies
• Any treatment you receive outside the UK
• Emergency treatment or visits to your NHS GP
• Pregnancy, childbirth and most related conditions
• Cosmetic treatment
• Organ transplants
• Any treatments or practices that are experimental, unproven or unregistered
• Any treatment for learning difficulties, delayed speech disorders and other developmental problems