Freedom Health Insurance at a glance (July 2026)
| Freedom Health Insurance | |
|---|---|
| Products | Freedom Essentials (cash benefit) · Freedom Elite (comprehensive) · Freedom Worldwide |
| Published price | None — quote only; 6% annual-payment discount; no postcode loading |
| Underwriting | Moratorium (5-yr look-back / 2-yr unbroken clear period), FMU, CPME switch for under-71s |
| Excess | Essentials: compulsory £100 + optional £100–£1,000 · Elite: £0–£1,000 |
| Hospitals | Essentials: NO list — any UK or overseas hospital as self-pay · Elite: list + optional London Plus (HCA) extension |
| Cancer | Essentials: no treatment cover (cash benefits only) · Elite: full cancer cover in core |
| Mental health | Essentials: excluded · Elite optional: £2,000 outpatient, 45 days inpatient full refund |
| Ages | Maximum 70 at entry (cover continues after); children to 24 at inception |
Verified against Freedom Health Insurance's own published documents, July 2026.
Two products, two philosophies (July 2026)
Essentials works like no other policy here: instead of paying hospitals directly, it pays you a fixed cash benefit per procedure (e.g. £2,307 for cataract surgery with lens implant, £1,566 for open carpal tunnel release — Freedom's published procedure payment guide), and you book as a self-pay patient at any hospital in the UK or abroad. If the operation costs less than the benefit, you keep the surplus; if you use the NHS instead, you still receive 50% of the benefit as cash. There's no annual limit on the core cover and no hospital list at all.
Elite is a conventional comprehensive policy: hospital and specialist fees refunded in full, full cancer cover in core, MRI/CT/PET in full, NHS cash benefit of £200/night, and optional modules for outpatient cover (£750 diagnostics; £1,500 or full-refund specialist fees), therapies, mental health, and private GP/dental/optical.
Watch-outs
- Essentials does not cover cancer treatment. You'd get 50% of the relevant cash benefit for a cancer procedure and £150 per chemo/radiotherapy visit — that is nothing like full cancer cover. Mental health is excluded on Essentials entirely.
- Essentials has a compulsory £100 excess on every policy.
- On Elite, going off-list means Freedom pays only 50% of eligible hospital charges; central London and HCA facilities need the London Plus extension.
- Maximum entry age is 70 — the lowest of the nine providers we compare. Elite also excludes several occupations (offshore, professional sport, armed forces and others).
- No published premiums and no published claims statistics.
Who it suits
Essentials suits people comfortable acting as informed self-pay buyers who want help with costs and total freedom of hospital — or the option of pocketing the NHS cash-back. Elite suits people wanting conventional comprehensive cover with the option of HCA-level London hospitals. Neither suits anyone whose priority is cancer cover on a budget — Essentials doesn't provide it.
See options from the UK's leading providers — side by side, your exact profile.
Get a Free Quote →Frequently Asked Questions
It pays a fixed, published cash benefit per procedure (no annual core limit); you have treatment as a self-pay patient at any UK or overseas hospital. Cost less than the benefit? You keep the difference. Use the NHS instead and Freedom pays you 50% of the benefit (verified July 2026).
Freedom Elite includes full cancer cover in its core. Freedom Essentials does not cover cancer treatment — it pays only 50% of the fixed cash benefit for procedures that are part of cancer treatment plus £150 per chemotherapy or radiotherapy hospital visit (verified July 2026).
New applicants must be 70 or under. Existing cover can then continue indefinitely. Switch applications on CPME terms must be under 71 (verified July 2026).