Glossary

Here we define some popular medical & health insurance terminology.

NB. When terms are used in PMI policy documents, the insurer’s own definitions should be referred to and not our definitions below which are only provided for guidance purposes.

Acute Conditions

Short-term injury or illness which is curable.

Alternative Therapy

Increasingly popular – can include homeopathy, acupuncture, physiotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine.

Cash Plan

Reimbursement (partial) of insured costs

Chronic Conditions

Incurable long-term illnesses (e.g. terminal cancers)

Claims Procedures

The procedure for making a claim – many insurers can now do this over the phone rather than by forms

Consequence of non-disclosure

It is essential when describing your medical history that a full disclosure is made or claims maybe annulled due to non-disclosure

Excess

This is the (often nominal) amount that the insured individual agrees to pay towards the cost of any treatment required. It is usually only paid once on the initial claim per person per policy year. Your lowest excess is typically £200 (May, 2007).

Health / medical insurance

Is there a difference between health and medical insurance? The answer is ‘no’ as they tend to be used interchangeably. You can consider both of them to be exactly the same thing when reading definitions on MediCube, however they may differ on insurance policy documents from the insurers themselves.

In-patient

This is an individual who is admitted to hospital for medical treatment who has to stay for one (or possibly more) night(s).

Moratorium

This is where the individual applying for medical cover is not required to declare his or her medical history at the application stage, but any condition suffered in the previous 5 years (can differ) will eventually be covered if no symptoms, medication tests / advice or treatment is received for that condition for a further period of two years (can differ).

NHS Cash Benefit for Treatment

This is a ‘money back’ payment from your insurer for choosing to have NHS treatment instead of private treatment.

Out patient

An individual treated in a hospital, clinic or consulting room – but not as a day or in patient.

PMI

Private medical insurance (explained in full in our guides section).

Pre-existing conditions

Any conditions e.g. illness or disease for which the applicant has received treatment / medication or experienced symptoms before the insurance started.