What you need to know before buying health insurance for kids

If you’ve had enough of battling to get the kids a doctor’s appointment, or don’t want them waiting months to be seen by a specialist, there is an alternative. You could take out children’s private medical insurance that will pay for some or all of the diagnosis and treatment your child may require.

Such policies come with a long list of benefits. For example, most offer same-day video and phone consultations and can arrange specialist appointments and procedures much faster more than through the NHS. ‘Another valued benefit,’ says Kevin Pratt, consumer affairs editor at MoneySupermarket.com, ‘is the cash payment that is made to the parent for each night that a child has to stay in hospital. This can be used to pay expensive car-parking fees or other expenses that crop up.’

Of course, there’s a price for speed and convenience, but there’s a variety of policies available offering different levels of cover to suit most budgets.