Review: Bupa Health Insurance
By David Woodfield 
Key policy features
- Bupa owns a large number of private hospitals and clinics
- It offers two core levels of cover
- Bupa aims to provide quick access to consultants and treatment
See our list of the best health insurance policies here or get a Bupa quote and compare it with other providers using Activequote.com.
Summary
Bupa is the UK's largest health insurance company and has a network of private hospitals, clinics, and medical services such as diagnostics and treatments.
It aims to cover customers from diagnosis to treatment and can include home nursing, private ambulances and even post-diagnostic therapies (such as physiotherapy). Certain elements of cover can be tailored or removed, for example, you can choose not to include diagnosis, which will lower the cost of a policy.
Find out if Bupa is included in our guide to the best health insurance providers.
You can compare health insurance policy features and prices, including Bupa, at the specialist price comparison site Activequote.com.
Overview of Bupa health insurance cover
Bupa health care offers two main policy levels.
Comprehensive cover, as the name suggests, is Bupa's policy with the greatest cover.
It includes cover for investigations, scans and consultations that are needed to find the problem and reach a diagnosis (for example blood tests, CT, MRI and PET scans).
The cover then extends to include any treatment you might need as a result of the diagnosis – from out-patient treatments like physiotherapy through to in-patient surgery (note that Bupa sell separate dental insurance policies).
Treatment and Care cover is Bupa’s more affordable policy. It does not cover most pre and post-treatment diagnosis and testing, which makes it cheaper.
In practice, this would mean that you would need to rely on the NHS (or pay your own private fees) until a firm diagnosis were reached, after which the health cover can kick in.
You can compare health insurance policy features and prices, including Bupa, in depth at Activequote.com or check out our guide to the best health insurance companies.
How much does Bupa health insurance cost?
As with most health insurance policies, the cost of Bupa cover is dependent on many lifestyle factors, such as your age, state of your health, your claim history and any pre-existing conditions you may have. Factors such as whether you smoke can also impact on insurance costs.
As you'd expect, health insurance usually costs more the older you are.
See our article on the average cost of health insurance for more information.
Prices will also depend on the cover and excess levels you set. For you a rough guide for a healthy, 31-year-old man who does not smoke, it will cost around £45 a month for Bupa's Comprehensive policy and £30 a month for Treatment and Care.
You can get a quote and advice using Activequote.com.
What do Bupa customer reviews say?
On Reviewcentre.com, Bupa scores 1.4/5 from 120 customer reviews.
What do the experts say?
Bupa has been awarded 5 out of 5 Stars by independent financial reviewer Defaqto for its Comprehensive cover and 3 stars for its Treatment and Care policy.
Get a quote for a Bupa policy and compare it with other health insurance providers by using Activequote.com.
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