The products that they offer include:

• Choices – a modular plan designed to offer private clients flexible health cover with a range of options.

• Oasis – a policy that provides cash benefits to customers that suffer from serious ongoing conditions, as well as those who require surgical procedures to rectify health issues.

• DentalCare – a product that includes cover for urgent and non-urgent dental care, as the name suggests.

• MortgageCare – cover that is designed to help policyholders pay their bills in the event that they are unable to work due to sickness, injury or redundancy.

• TravellersCare – an annual policy that covers people who travel abroad on a number of occasions throughout the year.

With a wide choice of both private and business plans in their range, they strive to offer flexible cover for companies and individuals in the UK. Private health insurance policies include core cover, which can be augmented by the selection of three additional levels of cover.

Simplyhealth have around 11,000 corporate clients and 3 millions private customers, a testament to their ongoing commitment to provide a service that is tailored to meet a wide variety of needs.

In common with several other health insurance firms, PruHealth sell policies that include core cover for certain procedures and conditions, with optional extras available for those who wish to increase the level of cover offered by their plan. Among the options that can be added to the core benefits are outpatient, therapies, dental and worldwide travel cover. It is also possible for customers to choose the medical establishments where they wish to be treated, from a list of hospitals provided by the company. The fact that they are backed by two financial services organisations should reassure policyholders that they will be around to settle claims should the need arise.

The Permanent Health Company provides four different plans for individuals that require medical cover as well as company schemes that can be customised to meet the requirements of different employers with regard to the level of cover that they wish to provide their workforce. These schemes can consist of a mix of all four types of plan that are available to private clients, allowing companies to offer senior employees a more comprehensive range of benefits if they desire.

Patient Choice offers three main types of policy:

• Essential Hospital Treatment Plan – covering over a thousand different procedures, including many for which the waiting lists are lengthy.

• Access Hospital Treatment Plan – as above but with extra benefits such as coverage for consultation fees and scans.

• Premier Hospital Treatment Plan – the most comprehensive option that includes all the benefits of the first two plans but with an increased level of cover for consultation and scan fees.

Each plan has been designed to provide clients with the healthcare options they desire in exchange for affordable premiums.

Although they are not accepting new clients at the time of writing, it is expected that they will launch a range of new products in the near future once they have completed the review of their capital requirements as dictated by the rules of the Financial Services Authority.

In the meantime, existing customers should find that it is business as usual whenever they need to make a claim or change the terms of their policies, with friendly staff waiting to take calls and provide assistance as and when necessary. Because the organisation is a friendly society, there is no need for the management to worry about shareholders. This means that priority can be given to the needs of customers at all times.

The ExpatHealth plans that they provide also offer three levels of cover and premiums may be paid in pounds sterling, Euros or US dollars. Policy benefits include outpatient and in-patient cover, home nursing from 12-26 weeks, depending on which plan is selected, and reimbursement of ambulance fees. If chemotherapy or radiotherapy is required for the treatment of malignant tumours, the full cost of such treatment will be refunded to policyholders. Cover for surgical intervention and complementary medicine is included although the amount of cover is limited with certain policies.

Individual and family plans offer a choice of four different levels of cover, as do those that are available to companies. Medicare works with many intermediaries around the world to ensure that its products can be purchased by those who need them.

In addition to designing a range of flexible health insurance policies, they pride themselves on the standard of the technical and support packages that are offered to the intermediaries with whom they work. This dedication to maintaining high standards ensures that the customer is always provided with the level of service they would expect from a leading insurer.

Formed in 1988, InterGlobal have expanded rapidly and are currently providing cover to people in more than 150 countries across the globe. The decision to specialise in international insurance has allowed them to focus on providing the necessary infrastructure to support a widely scattered client base and to concentrate on designing products that meet the needs of those who frequently travel abroad for extended periods of time.