The simple answer is it saves you time. We take a few of your key details and compare industry-leading health insurance providers.

We'll list the providers that could offer you health insurance - all you need to do then is pick the policy that meets your needs and budget.

Our partners offer these useful features in their health insurance policies:

• Shorter waiting times

• A choice of hospitals

• Physiotherapy

• Private rooms

• Specialist referrals

• Specialist treatments

• A dedicated health helpline

You should see these features listed on the results page once you've completed your health insurance quote.

In the UK, we get healthcare for free thanks to the NHS. But private medical insurance offers some extra benefits (like private rooms and faster treatments) that the NHS can't always provide.

It's sometimes called health insurance, private healthcare, or medical insurance. We'll use these terms interchangeably throughout this page.

You can choose from 3 different levels of cover - basic, medium and comprehensive. The more comprehensive the policy, the more it covers.

For example, a basic policy covers inpatient treatment and hospital stays. Medium covers outpatient care as well as time in the hospital. Comprehensive includes all of this, plus cover for treatments such as physiotherapy.

We'll go into more detail about the types of cover later on in the page.

As with all types of insurance, the cost of private health insurance depends on a few different factors:

• Your age - the price might increase every year as you age.

• Your medical history - your insurer will want to know about pre-existing conditions. These are usually excluded from cover and could increase the price of your policy.

• Your family medical history - any hereditary conditions might affect your own health.

• Where you live - treatment in London, for example, is more expensive than other areas of the UK.

• Your lifestyle - Smoking and excessive drinking can make your policy more expensive. If you exercise regularly and maintain a healthy lifestyle, your policy might be cheaper.

• What you want to be covered for - you can choose certain cover for different types of treatment.

Typically, yes - you'll need to think about your private health insurance excess when considering the cost of your policy. The excess is an amount you pay towards a claim. You can set this yourself. The higher you set it, the lower your monthly payments are likely to be.

Some insurers apply this to a policy per year, but others can charge an excess per claim. Make sure you check your policy to understand how your health insurer charges an excess.

You can set your excess from £0 to £1,000 - it's up to you to choose. When you get health insurance quotes with us, you can set your excess at different levels and see how it affects your monthly costs. Remember, you should only set it at an amount you can afford to pay towards a claim.

The bottom line is that comparing policies is the best way to find cheaper health insurance without compromising on the cover you need.

A pre-existing condition is something you've had symptoms, treatment, or medical advice for in the last 5 years before buying a health insurance policy. That counts even if you've never had a formal diagnosis.

You can usually still buy health insurance if you have pre-existing conditions, but these conditions will typically be excluded from your cover. Some examples of pre-existing conditions include:

• Heart disease

• Stroke history

• Cancer

• Diabetes

• Serious mental health conditions

• Chronic conditions that need ongoing management (e.g., Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis)

• Anything requiring regular medication or monitoring

When it comes to pre-existing conditions, you can choose from 2 different underwriting styles: moratorium or full medical underwriting. Here's more information on those:

Moratorium underwriting

This is the most common approach for most people.

With this type of underwriting, it automatically excludes any condition you've had in the past 5 years.

But they might cover it later if you go 2 continuous years on the policy without symptoms, treatment, medication or advice.

If you've got minor or resolved conditions, like joint pain, asthma, skin-related conditions or IBS that might settle later, this underwriting process might work for you.

If the condition keeps coming up, it will probably be excluded from the policy.

Not usually, but you can add it onto most health insurance policies. Or you can get dental cover separately.

Private dental insurance usually covers things like:

• Check-ups, things like x-rays and a scale and polish

• Routine treatments like fillings

• Emergency procedures, like a crown or extraction, or pain relief

• Major dental work like complex crowns or bridgework

Not all dental work is covered though. Here's what you might have to pay for yourself.:

• Cosmetic or purely aesthetic work, like whitening or veneers

• Implants

• Pre-existing dental problems that you had before you bought your dental policy

• Missed appointment fees

There are 2 different types of dental plan: dental-only and health cash plans. Both of these can help manage the cost of dental work that's covered on the policy.