Last Updated on Thursday, 23 July 2009 11:59

With increasing pressure on our finances and healthcare costs rising all the time, more and more people are turning to Health Cash Plans to help them budget for essential family healthcare.

Everyone wants the best for their family so healthcare appointments are unavoidable, but with an NHS filling now costing as much as £45.60† and an average pair of glasses likely to set you back £124*, the question is, how to pay for them?

Enter Health Cash Plans. The affordable way of budgeting for your family’s health as you go along. Put simply, you pay a fixed amount every month and are entitled to claim money back on a wide range of healthcare treatments, from dental check- ups and new glasses to physiotherapy and complementary health.

HealthSure is one of the most popular options

A HealthSure Health Cash Plan isn’t like an insurance policy you’ll never use. HealthSure is an organisation that actually encourages families to claim back for their healthcare costs, whether they choose private or NHS treatment. On HealthSure’s first level of cover you can pay just 39p a day and be entitled to claim back up to £350 a year for all this and more:

• Dental check-ups, filling, hygienist visits

• Eye tests, prescription glasses and repairs to glasses

• Specialist treatment like physiotherapy, chiropody/podiatry and private consultations

• Wellbeing treatments like acupuncture and homeopathy

Special benefits for families

With HealthSure, children under the age of 18 who live at home are covered free. There’s even good news for new parents. HealthSure will pay out a cash lump sum on the birth of a new child as long as one or both of the parents have been with the plan for over 12 months.

On the plan you can even get money back for hospital stays, either for yourself or if you have to stay in overnight with your child. You can receive up to £20 per day/night to spend on anything you like, from parking fees to a bunch of flowers for the recovering patient.

How you receive your money

With a Health Cash Plan you pay for your healthcare appointments and treatment upfront. The Plan simply refunds some or all of the money you have had to pay out. HealthSure is one company that makes claiming particularly easy. All you have to do is provide them with a receipt for your treatment and fill in an easy-to-complete claim form. There’s no lengthy waiting process. The money can be back in your bank and ready for you to spend within a matter of days. It’s that simple.

A long tradition of care

Health Cash Plan providers like HealthSure have their roots in the old Hospital Saturday Funds - charitable organisations which pre-date the NHS that were committed to helping families afford their healthcare. As part of the Simplyhealth group of companies, HealthSure has mutual values and is proud to have built its reputation on being dedicated to people rather than profits.

Here’s what HealthSure customer Mr John Bailey had to say about his Health Cash Plan

“I have had my HealthSure plan for two years and it is a great benefit to have… The plan was particularly effective when I encountered a problem with my knee; I am a keen runner and injured my knee whilst running. Being impatient, I didn’t want to wait the time it would have taken to get an appointment with a physiotherapist on the NHS so I went to see a local sports physiotherapist.

I claimed the cost of the appointment back through my HealthSure Cash Plan which was great as I got seen very quickly to get me back running again, but it was free to me – it’s a great concept I would definitely recommend.”

For more information on HealthSure and Simplyhealth, or to get a Health Cash Plan  click here or call 0800 065 6636

This feature was proudly sponsored by HealthSure _____________________________________________________________________________________

† www.nhs.uk

*Average cost of glasses – Survey by Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians, Dec 2007.