What is the best private health insurance in the UK in 2025?

Here’s how Bupa and its flagship private medical insurance compares against other top private health insurance providers and plans.

Bupa Direct Access

While some insurers allow self-referral for a short course of physio, or talking therapies, Bupa goes further with Bupa Direct Access. Go straight to Bupa if you’re worried about cancer, mental health or need help with your muscle, bones or joints.

Mental health cover as standard

All Bupa By You plans include Mental Health cover, with the outpatient aspect limited by your chosen outpatient allowance. Uniquely, Bupa is the only insurer that says it won’t refuse mental health treatment due to a previously covered condition recurring.

Dental care for all members

Most private health insurance plans offer cashback towards routine dental care at an additional cost. With Bupa By You, each policy member gets one appointment per year at a Bupa Dental Care centre plus an allowance of £300 for further dental care by default.

Improved no claims discount

Bupa now has some of the fairest rules in relation to how claims affect your no claims discount. Small claims of £300 or less have no impact, and you’d need to claim over £1,201 to fall the maximum three levels in a policy year.

Outpatient limit is limiting

The only significant drawback with Bupa’s private health insurance is felt if you apply a limit to your outpatient benefit. It's a “combined” allowance, so multiple treatments are deducted from it.

Bupa is synonymous with private health insurance, along with having a network of dental practices, care homes, a private hospital and health centres too. While it's perhaps the best-known health insurer in the UK, many don’t realise that Bupa doesn’t have shareholders, and reinvests profits back into the business, for the benefit of members and employees.

WPA has several key differences versus other leading health insurers, as we explain here.

• Separate benefits for personalised cover
• Outstanding customer reviews
• Good, but not the best no claims discount structure
• Self-referred counselling and complementary therapies
• Joining is harder over 66

Separate benefits for personalised cover

Arguably, the best part of WPA’s private health insurance (and the bit that makes it a little complicated) is how much control you get in configuring your plan. You have around 14 individual choices to precisely tailor your policy to your needs. It’s a level of flexibility unmatched by any other private health insurance provider.

Outstanding customer reviews

WPA has had the best Trustpilot reviews of any of the health insurance companies in the UK for several years, with its average score continuously hovering between 4.6-.4.7 out of five.

Good, but not the best no claims discount structure

While not as strong as The Exeter’s or Bupa’s no claims discount rules (NCD), WPA’s are still good. It recently improved its NCD rules so that claims of up to £250 won’t affect your discount, and added a 15th level which increases its maximum discount from 70% to 73%. However, any claim over £750 will still see you slide by the maximum 3 levels.

Self-referred counselling and complementary therapies

WPA is one of the only providers to let you self-refer for structured counselling sessions (max six per year). In addition, if you opt for its “Therapy” extra, you can self-refer for up to four sessions with a physio, chiropractor or osteopath, up to your chosen limit.

Joining is harder over 66

WPA makes it a bit more difficult for people to join after their 66th birthdays, only allowing full medical underwriting and stipulating you need a minimum policy excess of £500. Like all private health insurance companies, you can stay with WPA up to any age, so this only affects those wishing to join.

WPA is a non-profit organisation that provides health insurance, cash plans and nothing else. They've been supporting members since 1901 and pride themselves on offering freedom to choose when, where and who provides your treatment.

The Exeter Health+ stands out when it comes to the fairness and clarity of its product information. For example, the decision between guided consultants, which restricts your treatment options in return for a lower premium, and a traditional hospital list is flagged first on its website, where many others leave this until last.

Precision underwriting

We've heard anecdotally from several private health insurance brokers that The Exeter is very precise with its underwriting, often excluding less than others. It also publicises precisely how its underwriting team will treat a range of conditions, which is fantastic transparency.

Market-leading no claims discount

Having looked at all the insurers' no claims discounts in detail, we believe The Exeter has the best structure, that's the most appealing for those looking to control their premiums. With The Exeter, claims under £300 won't affect your no claims discount, and you'd need to claim over £2,000 in a policy year to fall the maximum three NCD levels.

Flexible outpatient benefits

The Exeter's outpatient benefits are flexible, more so than Bupa’s but less than WPA’s. What we particularly like is that you can choose between a combined outpatient limit or separate specialist consultations from diagnostics, with mental health cover and complementary therapies separate too.

Healthwise app is packed with value

Most insurers have apps for claims management and alike, but The Exeter's goes further and offers significant additional value for members. Alongside accessing The Exeter’s remote GP through the app, you also get up to six video sessions with a physiotherapist, mental health therapist, dietitian, and more.

The Exeter has mutual status, which means it is owned by its members (customers) and, without shareholders, can re-invest profits to benefit members and advisers. Alongside its health insurance products, The Exeter also offers life and income protection insurance.

Vitality is quite different to the other leading private health insurers we’ve covered, this section explains more.

Be rewarded for looking after yourself

Vitality’s innovative approach to private medical insurance is centred on the belief that healthy members benefit everyone. To achieve that, Vitality has a programme that rewards those who keep active through a variety of discounts and perks.

In addition, your Vitality Status, which is determined by how many points you earn, impacts your health insurance renewal premiums. In Spring 2025, Vitality is rolling out further improvements to its programme, so watch this space.

Bear in mind that if you don’t engage, you may not get rewards and your health insurance premiums could be impacted too. Read how the Vitality Programme works.

Self-referred physiotherapy and talking therapies

Another differentiator with Vitality is that even without opting for its mental health cover or therapies cover, you're able to have six sessions of physiotherapy and some counselling/cognitive behaviour therapy (inside its network of providers).

You can separate your outpatient benefits

Vitality allows you to apply a limit to your outpatient cover and separate specialist consultations from diagnostic tests by opting for Full Cover for Diagnostics. Something to note, physiotherapy that isn’t arranged through its Priority Physio network will draw from your chosen outpatient limit.

Terms around recurring mental health conditions are vague

Vitality's terms around recurring or ongoing mental health conditions, which are similar to many we’ve reviewed, say that recurring mental health conditions may become chronic and subsequently excluded. Unfortunately there’s nothing to say when that might happen.

Vitality Health and Life has brought a fresh approach to insurance since it landed on UK shores in 2004. Its focus on promoting healthier lifestyles sets Vitality apart from traditional insurers. The brand is easily recognised thanks to its distinctive pink livery and chippy Dachshund mascot, Stanley.

Unlimited specialist referred diagnostics

Even with its Standard outpatient benefit, you’ll get unlimited specialist referred diagnostic tests. This isn’t the case with others, who often include complex diagnostic scans in their core products but not much more.

Private GP access if you opt for Extended Cover

Like most health insurance companies, Axa Health includes a virtual private GP service in its core product. However, it goes one step further with an additional option that gives you up to £500 towards private GP fees. It requires you to opt for its Extended Cover Option, but still, it's a good inclusion.

Small claims impact your no claims discount

Unlike others, who distinguish between the value of a claim and the number of levels you fall on their no claims discount scale, Personal Health doesn't. It means whether it pays out £1 in a policy year or £50,000, you’ll fall a full three levels. Granted, it has a few more levels on its scale than others, but not that many more.

Excess payments are deducted from benefit limits

In contrast to most private health insurance plans, with Personal Health, if you set a limit on a benefit such as your outpatient cover, and have an excess, the treatment cost is deducted from your allowance before your excess.

Axa Health was established in 2020 when three brands: Axa Health, Health-on-Line, and Axa ICAS Limited, merged, specialising in offering health insurance. It is part of the AXA Group, one of the largest insurance organisations in the world.

Freedom offers several unique benefits, in this section, we outline the biggest differences from its competitors.

Changes to renewal pricing in 2025

As of March 2025, we were informed that Freedom has discontinued its community-rated product. Renewal premiums are now determined on an individual basis, taking into account a range of personal factors. While this shift has resulted in notable premium increases for some members, the data we’ve reviewed from Freedom suggests that only a small proportion of policyholders have been significantly affected.

Close to unrestricted consultant access

Unlike many of its competitors, Freedom doesn't offer a guided consultant option. You get a traditional hospital list by default, and consultant access is only limited by a fee schedule. It’s similar to WPA, and an aspect of Freedom’s health insurance we particularly like.

Premiums aren’t location-based

Freedom is the only insurer we've looked at in our research that doesn't set premiums based on your postcode, it has a flat rate based on your age for the whole UK. This can mean that it prices well in traditionally expensive cities but, equally, might not be as strong outside of those.

Mixed feelings on mental health

Freedom Elite's mental health option includes up to 45 days of specialist treatment as an inpatient or day patient and up to £2,000 towards outpatient treatment, which is excellent. However, it won’t cover “expected responses” to a particular life event, and its terms state that it only covers acute conditions, which hints at what we’ve seen elsewhere, with recurring conditions potentially being reclassified as chronic.

Cover for dental, optical and private GP costs

Freedom includes some cover for private GP appointments, with a limit of £300 per policy year, if you take its Private GP, Dental and Optical option. It’s a good inclusion, as we know how hard people have been finding it to see their NHS GP.

Founded in 2003 and based in Poole, Freedom Health Insurance is a relatively new entrant to the UK health insurance market. A family-run company it solely focuses on providing flexible and tailored private health insurance plans to individuals and businesses.

General & Medical's Lifestyle product covers everything you might expect, plus several unique extras we haven't seen elsewhere, and some aspects we aren’t as keen on, here’s how they compare.

Unique cash benefits

Alongside the strong private medical treatment coverage levels, General & Medical's (G&M's) Lifestyle plan includes several cash benefits we've not seen elsewhere. For example, there's a cash benefit if a policyholder suffers a personal accident, there's another for the death of a policyholder, and one for critical illness, too.

Option to cover two pre-existing conditions

With its Pre-Existing Condition Upgrade, you can get cover for two pre-existing medical conditions that would otherwise be excluded. This benefit is only available for a prescribed list of 14 medical conditions, and you'll get an annual limit of £1,000 of treatments for each of the two you add.

Renewal premiums set individually

G&M takes a different approach to calculating your renewal premiums and does it individually for each member. There isn't a no claims discount, so it looks at your claims history for the past two years, alongside other market data and your increase in age, to price your quote. We’ve seen some example renewal data from G&M, but not enough to completely put our minds at rest with this approach.

Several benefits are subject to a qualifying period

General & Medical set specific qualifying periods for various benefits and treatments. For example, you can't claim for cancer in the first 90 days, even if it wasn't pre-existing. Enhanced mental health has a qualifying period of six months before you can claim, and even your dental, optical, and audio cash benefits have the same period.

General & Medical was established in the 1980s, initially providing financial services to the medical profession. The company has expanded its scope and now offers both insured and non-insured private healthcare schemes to businesses, families, individuals and affinity groups.

Aviva’s Healthier Solution has plenty of differences to other top private health insurers and plans, here’s some of the key ones.

Unlimited outpatient benefit in the core product

Aviva stands out as being one of the only providers to include unlimited outpatient cover in its core product and then allow you to reduce or remove it entirely. It’s great that Aviva is pushing such comprehensive private health insurance, albeit it can make comparing its product against others more difficult.

Restrictive combined outpatient limit (optional)

When you have unlimited outpatient cover with Aviva, there’s not much to worry about. However, if you apply a limit to help manage premiums, it has several effects. Firstly, multiple treatment types share the same benefit (similar to Bupa), potentially leading to it being used quickly. What’s less expected, is that applying a limit on your outpatient benefit, also affects some of your inpatient and day patient benefits. Namely, complications of pregnancy/childbirth and surgical procedures on teeth.

Three strikes rule on mental health claims

Sadly, and similarly to most bar Bupa, Aviva stipulates in its terms and conditions that recurring mental health conditions can become chronic and cover withdrawn. Unlike others who don’t explain how or when this might happen, Aviva does, saying if you claim for the same mental health condition in three policy years, it’ll be classed as chronic thereafter.

Claims of £250.01 or more have equal impact on your NCD

Aviva is by no means the worst with its NCD terms, with claims of £250 or less seeing you stay at the same level. However, anything over that sees you drop by three levels on its scale, which isn’t as good as the top three in this review.

With over 320 years of experience in the insurance market, Aviva is one of the UK's leading insurers. It offers a wide range of financial services, from insurance and investments to retirement planning and private medical insurance.

In this section we share how Saga differs from both other leading health insurers and what its underwriter Bupa offers.

A three-year “modified” moratorium

Screenshot of Saga's questions in health insurance quote process

Saga takes a different approach to most with its moratorium underwriting, in any pre-existing conditions from the past three years of your medical history, rather than the usual five, will be excluded. We think it’s a brilliant differentiator.

We've named it a modified moratorium because, during the quote process, you're asked several questions (shown in the screenshot below) about your medical history without being told how the answers are used.

The answers you provide to Saga about your health during the quote process affect your policy options.

Source: Saga Health Insurance quote form

Saga told us that clients' answers allow them to tailor the cover options they offer. It doesn't affect core policy benefits, but you may be presented with additional options depending on your selections.

Excess payments taken from benefit allowances

Similar to Axa Health, if you apply a limit on certain benefits, such as outpatient or mental health treatment, the cost of the treatment is deducted from your allowance before your excess. This means that despite you paying for the treatment, it impacts your remaining allowance.

Claim size doesn’t factor into no claims discount rules

With Saga, claims of all sizes will see you drop two levels on their ten-level no claims discount scale, whereas, with Bupa, smaller claims have less impact than large. In addition, Saga, unlike others, does not restrict the number of NCD levels you can fall in a year.

From holidays and cruises to car, home and health insurance Saga is known for its products and services aimed at the over-50s market. Its health insurance plans are designed specifically for older individuals and are now underwritten by Bupa Insurance Limited.

As the final provider to make our top ten, National Friendly introduces an entirely different way of doing things. In truth, there are many differences between My PMI and other leading health insurers, but we’ll focus on the ones we feel are most important.

Simple choice of four plans

We have to admit there is a need to simplify health insurance. The various approaches, dissimilar products, and wildly different terms and conditions make it a minefield. We applaud National Friendly for attempting to achieve simplicity by bundling cover options into four packages. However, as it’s quite different from most others, we think it has the opposite effect to what is intended. In addition, its policy documents are very hard to digest, which complicates what should be a simple solution

Unique approach to renewals

National Friendly’s approach to renewal pricing is completely different to the rest of the market and can be described as a hybrid between community and claims rated policies. When you sign up with National Friendly, you’re agreeing to a five-year contract, and it’s only at the end of that contract they will look at your claims and other information to provide you with an offer for a further five years. Alongside the five-year review, premiums for plans are reviewed each year, but from what we understand, this works similarly to a community rating in that your claims shouldn’t play a role in what you pay the year after.

Good cover levels

The cover levels in My PMI levels three and four are strong, but some limitations are similar to those we've reviewed here. For example, with level three, despite choosing between a generous £2,500 or £5,000 in outpatient cover, it's a combined limit, which includes complex scans such as CTs, PET and MRIs (as a reminder, most other insurers don't limit these). There's also limited cover for complementary therapies and no option for mental health cover.

Originally established in 1868 as a friendly society, National Friendly has evolved to offer a variety of insurance products, including private medical insurance. As a mutual society, it operates with a member-first approach, reinvesting profits back into the business to benefit its customers.