Health insurance for children (2026 Guide)

Benefits of child health insurance

Every plan will provide you with different benefits, but largely, having health insurance for your kids will likely mean:

• faster access to medical care for your children
• access to tests and treatments which aren't commonly available on the NHS
• treatment in comfortable private clinics and hospitals
• support and accommodation for you while your child is treated
• guarantee of a private room, usually with ensuite facilities, a TV and phone to ensure your child is comfortable
• treatment at a local private hospital of your choosing
• treatment at a time that's convenient for you and your child

Child health insurance isn't a replacement for NHS care and you'll probably still need to utilise the NHS alongside your child's medical insurance policy. What it does mean is that in certain situations, your child will be covered for private medical care.

What does children's health insurance cover?

While every policy is different, broadly speaking you can expect your child's health insurance to cover the cost of treatment for acute medical conditions, meaning those that can be cured. Chronic, or incurable conditions such as diabetes or asthma, typically won't be covered by your child's medical insurance. Pre-existing conditions will also usually be excluded unless an exemption has been agreed with your insurer.

In-patient, day-patient and out-patient

All health insurance policies, including those for kids, cover costs relating to treatments where an overnight stay in hospital is required (in-patient), with most policies also covering the cost of treatments where a bed is just used for a day (day-patient). Only more comprehensive and therefore more expensive policies will also cover outpatient treatments and diagnosis, where a hospital bed isn't required at all.

How to avoid NHS waiting times

It's important to point out, that if you opt for a basic policy which doesn't include any out-patient tests or diagnosis, then your child's route to treatment will be via the NHS. While in many cases this isn't an issue, waiting for tests or results via the NHS can prolong the process of getting treatment. We'd therefore always suggest that if you're taking out a policy specifically to avoid NHS waiting lists, you consider getting a comprehensive policy so that your diagnosis can also take place privately.

Understanding underwriting

Underwriting is the process an insurer goes through to assess the risk associated with providing a policy which enables them to set a price. While it may seem like insurance jargon, understanding underwriting is actually incredibly important as it plays a huge role in how your children's policy is not only priced but delivered too.

The three types of underwriting

The three types of underwriting that you can choose for your child's health insurance policy are: Moratorium, Full Medical Underwriting and Switch.

• Moratorium underwriting automatically excludes any conditions which your child has suffered from in the past five years; if however your children go two years symptom free, those conditions will then be covered. With moratorium underwriting there is no need to disclose your child's medical history when you're taking the policy out, but it's likely you'll need to if you ever make a claim.
• Full medical underwriting requires that you provide your insurer with your child's full medical history when applying for the policy. With this information in hand, the insurer will then decide what is and isn't covered and you will know exactly what is excluded from your child's policy when you take the policy out. The advantage of full medical underwriting over moratorium is that you know exactly what is and isn't covered right from the outset, rather than having a blanket exclusion list of anything your children have suffered with in the past five years.
• Switch or CPME (Continuing Personal Medical Exclusions) allows you to move from an existing provider to a new one without losing cover.

Reducing the cost of your child's health insurance policy

You’ll want the best for your children’s health, but if money is tight, it's useful to understand the ways you can reduce the cost of your kids health insurance cover. These include

• Increasing your excess – most parents choose an excess of between £100 and £500, and will enjoy reductions in their premiums accordingly. Just make sure it's affordable, as the last thing you want is a big bill while your child is unwell.
• Picking a six-week wait option – means your child is treated on the NHS if it can see them within six weeks, and privately if it can't. Since many parents buy health insurance to avoid long waiting lists, this can be a sensible compromise that still lowers your premium
• Narrowing your hospital list – choosing a handful of local hospitals rather than a national list can reduce the cost of your children's cover. Avoiding expensive central London hospitals makes the biggest difference.
• Seeking out family discounts – Bupa, The Exeter and WPA offer family discounts of up to 10% for covering your family on one policy and Aviva, Bupa and Freedom only charge for your eldest child. Read our guide to the cost of family health insurance for more. 

You can learn about other ways to reduce your private health insurance premium in our special guide.

Get a quote with myTribe Insurance

myTribe Insurance was started to provide UK families with the best private health insurance available for affordable prices. Our team of specialist brokers scour the market on your behalf to find you the best health insurance policy for your children. The service we provide is completely free and by comparing policies via a broker rather than going direct you'll ensure you get the best pricing and free advice. If you would like a quote and for us to review the market, please click here and complete our quote request form.