The best private medical insurance providers

Winners of the Health Insurance Awards 2014 announced.

When taking out a private medical insurance (PMI) policy, cost should not be your only concern. You should also do your research on what you can expect from the insurer should you need to make a claim.

With that in mind, it's worth taking the results of the 2014 Health Insurance Awards into account. The awards, now in their 15th year, are organised by trade publication Health Insurance & Protection Daily and voted for by independent advisers. 

Let's see who picked up the big gongs.

The winners

There are a lot of categories in the awards, so I’ve pulled out the main highlights.

Aviva UK Health had an impressive year, taking home the title of ‘company of the year’ as well as the award for the most innovative new product. It was also named the best group PMI provider.

Prudential also did well, with subsidiaries PruHealth and PruProtect picking up an award each.

Compare private medical insurance providers and choose the right one for you

Purchasing private medical insurance

There are plenty of ways to reduce the cost of your PMI policy. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to shop around to see if you could get a better deal than your current provider, but it’s important that you know exactly what you are covered for.

You can also tweak things like the excess you would pay should you make a claim, or which hospitals you can get treatment in, which can significantly reduce your monthly bill. For more information on how to cut your costs, read How to pay less for private medical insurance.

And don't forget, many policies comes with all sorts of perks and incentives on top. Check out The best added perks of private medical insurance.

Compare private medical insurance providers and choose the right one for you

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