Vitality Health Insurance

The History of Vitality

Vitality was created in 2004 when Discovery and Prudential launched PruHealth to combine Prudential’s UK distribution with Discovery’s Vitality product which was already available in South Africa. In April 2010 Discovery acquired Standard Life Healthcare and merged it with PruHealth. In 2014, Discovery became the sole owner of PruHealth and rebranded to become VitalityHealth.

Vitality Health Insurance Policy Review

Vitality’s Personal Healthcare is their main health insurance policy for UK customers. The policy covers inpatient care in full and some outpatient care. There are a number of optional add on extras to enhance the policy. Vitality’s insurance rewards you for being healthy to encourage you to live a healthier life, as well as protecting you when things go wrong.

Vitality Health Core Cover

Included as a base to your cover with Vitality Personal Health are the following benefits.

Benefit	Details
In-patient and day patient treatment	Including hospital fees, consultants’ fees, diagnostic tests and MRI, CT, PET scans.
Vitality GP	Video consultations with a Vitality GP and 24 hour telephone access through the Vitality GP helpline. Up to £100 for investigations and private prescriptions when referred or prescribed by a Vitality GP. More on Digital GPs.
NHS Hospital Cash Benefit	In-patient treatment £250 per night up to a total of £2,000, day-patient treatment £125 per day up to a total of £500.
Out-patient Surgery	Full cover for out-patient surgery.
Childbirth Cash Benefit	£100 benefit for each child (if you've had the plan for at least 10 months).
Home Nursing	Full cover if recommended by a consultant.
Private Ambulance	Full cover where medically necessary.
Parent Accommodation	Full cover for one parent of children under 14.
Oral Surgery	Full cover for specified procedures.
Pregnancy Complications	Full cover in specified circumstances.
Lifestyle Surgery	Up to 25% contribution to the cost of consultations and package treatment for specified corrective and weight loss surgeries.
Talking Therapies	Up to 8 sessions per plan year of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or counselling (this benefit does not apply if Psychiatric Cover is selected).

Vitality Health Optional Extras

Additional optional extras are available to enhance your policy to suit your individual requirements:

Optional Benefit	Details
Out-patient cover	In addition to the out-patient surgery covered in full in the core cover, you can add this benefit on to include: consultations, consultants' fees, out-of network physiotherapy (max £35 per session) and diagnostic tests such as blood tests and x-rays will be covered to the chosen cover limit. Limit options: £500, £750, £1000, £1250, £1500, full cover
Out-patient diagnostics	Full cover for out-patient diagnostics can be added so that out-patient diagnostic tests, such as blood tests and x-rays, are covered in full.
Therapies Cover	Chiropractic treatment, osteopathy, chiropody/podiatry, acupuncture, homeopathy, and two consultations with a dietician following GP or consultant referral.
Psychiatric Cover	In-patient, day-patient and out-patient psychiatric treatment up to 28 days per plan year. Out-patient psychiatric treatment is covered up to £1,500 within the limit, and in-network talking therapies are covered in full.
Cancer Cover Options	Your plan automatically includes advanced Cancer Cover within the core cover.
Advanced Cancer Cover	The advanced cancer cover option includes full cover for: out-patient diagnostic tests and consultations, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and follow-up consultations, biological therapies, hormone and bisphosphonate therapies, cancer surgery and reconstructive surgery, stem cell therapy, end-of-life home nursing £1,000 per day, up to 14 days per plan year.
Dental Cover	Cover for dental check ups and hygienist fees up to £100, dental treatment 80% of the costs up to £400, and emergency dental treatment following an accident 100% of costs up to £2,500 per claim (maximum of two claims each plan year).
Worldwide Travel cover	Up to £10 million cover for emergency medical expense abroad plus benefits including lost luggage and cash benefits for delayed flights.

Underwriting Options

Vitality Personal Health policy offers the below options for how your policy is underwritten:

Moratorium: you don’t have to disclose any medical history to Vitality until you make a claim

Full medical underwriting: you disclose your medical history to Vitality

Continued personal medical exclusions (switch): you switch cover and carry any current personal medical exclusions which apply to the existing policy across to a new policy

For more definitions of terms, please see our glossary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still use the NHS if I have Vitality insurance?

Yes! The NHS is available to all UK citizens with or without insurance. Any treatment for pre-existing and chronic conditions will still be treated by the NHS, as well as any emergencies. If you choose to have inpatient or day-patient treatment on the NHS, that you would be eligible to claim on your health insurance for, Vitality will pay you an NHS cash benefit up to £2,500 per year. For more on how health insurance works alongside the NHS, check out our blog post on the subject.

Does Vitality cover cancer care?

All of Vitality’s plans include Advanced Cancer Cover, paying for both your in-patient and out-patient treatment in full. Should you wish to be treated at home, Vitality will cover the costs of at-home chemotherapy as long as your consultant agrees. If your cancer is no longer treatable, Vitality will pay for home nursing to relieve your symptoms up to a monetary value.

What are Vitality’s excess options?

Vitality’s excess options range from £0 to £1,000. Vitality give you the option of paying the once per year or once per claim. The excess options you choose will impact the premium you pay – the higher your excess, the lower the premium you pay will be.

Do Vitality offer Mental Health support?

Vitality’s core cover includes six therapy session per year and gives you access to 24/7 support service. Mental Health Cover can be added at an additional premium including unlimited therapy sessions, as well as inpatient, outpatient and day-patient up to 28 days per plan year.

Does Vitality offer Dental cover?

As part of their core cover, they will pay for surgical removal of impacted teeth and jawbone cysts. Should you wish to add Dental cover to your plan, you have the option of major dental treatment or major and routine dental treatment. Major dental treatment will cover you for root canals, dentures, crown and bridges. Major and routine dental treatment will cover everything included in major dental treatment, aswell as your routine check-ups, filling and dental x-rays.

Do I need health insurance?

We are blessed in the UK to have a National Health Service, so health insurance is not a legal requirement. Health insurance provides the peace of mind however that should you require treatment you can access private health services and avoid NHS waiting times. We believe there is a policy to suit everyone. To read more, see our Guide to Health Insurance.