About this tool

This tool sets three routes to the same treatment side by side: waiting for it on the NHS, paying for it yourself, and using a health insurance policy. It is built for people who already have a waiting time from their hospital, a self-pay quote from a private provider, or an insurance quote, and want to see the trade-offs in one place.

You enter the figures you have been given: the expected NHS wait, any income you would lose while waiting, the self-pay price, and the premium and excess on an insurance quote. The tool then shows what each route would cost you over the time you choose, and what each one does not include. It supplies no prices, averages or insurer names of its own, and nothing you type is sent to us or stored.

Your figures

Fill in what you know. Anything you leave blank simply stays out of the total.

Price you have been quoted to pay for the treatment yourself

Use the written quotation if you have one. Leave blank if you have not asked yet.

How long have you been told you will wait?

In months. Use the date you have been given, not an estimate of your own.

What does a month of waiting cost you?

Lost pay, private appointments to manage in the meantime, travel, help at home, childcare. Your figure, not ours.

Monthly premium you have been quoted for insurance

Leave blank if you are not considering insurance.

Excess on that policy

What you would pay towards a claim.

Anything the policy would not pay towards this treatment

For example a consultant fee above the insurer’s schedule. Leave blank if you do not know.

Enter at least one figure above and the comparison appears here.

Questions worth asking before you decide

The totals are only part of it. These are the questions that most often change someone’s mind once they ask them.

Is the condition already being investigated? If so, a new insurance policy will not cover it.
Does the quoted self-pay price include the consultation, the scans, the procedure, the hospital stay and the follow-up?
If something goes wrong, who pays for putting it right, and is that in writing?
Would going private for this affect your place on the NHS waiting list for anything else?
If you insure, what is the excess per policy year, and what does a claim do to next year’s premium?
Could you ask to be treated at another NHS hospital with a shorter wait, at no cost?

What this does not tell you

Every figure here is one you entered. We supply no prices, no average waits and no assumptions about what treatment costs.
The insurance column shows the first twelve months only. A premium is repriced at each renewal, so the cost repeats and usually rises.
Insurance will not cover a condition you are already being investigated or treated for.
It says nothing about which route is medically appropriate. That is a conversation with your GP or consultant.
Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.

Guides that explain this

This tool gives information, not advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy. We provide information. We do not give personal advice, and we do not arrange insurance on this site. Quotes and policies are handled by PremierPMI, an FCA-authorised broker. Read how we are funded and our editorial policy.