The main differences between general medical insurance and cash health plans can seem confusing at first; although in reality it is fairly simple. With a cash health plan cash is paid out if you are taken to hospital for treatment or to the dentist or opticians. Often cash health plans also allow you to receive treatments such as alternative therapies, acupuncture and physiotherapy. Cash health plans are aimed to cover the cost of every day health expenses rather than for serious or ongoing illness treatment.

Cash health plans are aimed to encourage people to receive early and prompt treatment in order to resolve any medical/dental or optical problems quickly. Some plans offer extra benefits such as critical illness cover, accidental death cover and help with funeral costs.

Cash health plans are usually paid monthly via direct debit.

The main difference between health insurance and a cash health plan is that medical insurance will help pay the cost of both treatment and appointments whereas a cash health plan will not pay out for as much. Cash health plans are often offered as a corporate healthcare scheme.

When they first arrived on the market cash health plans were just for basic use in hospitals, before the NHS was founded. In recent times they have become much more useful and are now in place t help the cost of a wide range of health care treatments.

There are certain restrictions with cash health plans as they are there purely to help with the cost of treatment rather than to arrange treatment. Finding where to have the treatment and arranging appointment times is up to you.

Generally most cash health plans do not cover all of your expenses and they also come with an annual limit of what you can spend. At the start of your policy you will usually need to have been paying into your agreement for between three and six months before you are eligible to claim for any treatments. – 35634

It is a good idea to take advantage of a (http://www.medicash.org) health cash plan as it means you will always have help with the cost of remaining healthy. A (http://www.medicash.org/healthcare/Default.aspx) cash plan is a good idea if you require basic cover for day to day health care.