Policy cover applies to the policyholder, but may also be extended to include eligible dependents, a wife or husband and unmarried children up to the age of 18 or 21. Some insurers will include children up to the age of 25 that are still in full time education.

Policies will have a range of benefits, often being broadly divided into budget, standard and comprehensive and plans. The sort of things that might be covered include:

• Accommodation and nursing in a private bed, in a hospital or registered nursing home while the patient is receiving treatment for illness or injury.
• Home nursing benefit, payable when the services of a qualified nurse are required for full time nursing at home.
• Surgeons’ and anaesthetists’ fees for an operation, including aftercare.
• Specialist physicians’ fees for treatment of the patient in a hospital or registered nursing home.
• Courses of radiotherapy provided by specialists.
• Specialists’ fees for consultations, pathology and radiology investigations and physiotherapy, received on an in-patient or out-patient basis.
• Fees charged by the hospital for the use of the operating theatre and for surgical dressings and drugs prescribed for use whilst an in-patient.
• Cash benefit while treatment is being received free of charge under the NHS in an NHS hospital (either by choice or in an emergency). The amount may be fixed, or calculated as a percentage of the comparable private treatment.

Standard plans will not normally cover out-patient, routine maternity or dental costs, while comprehensive plans generally have higher budget limits than a standard plan and may also cover out-patient care specialists, complementary medicine, dental treatment, routine maternity care, travel cover and personal accident insurance. Budget plans, meanwhile, have a variety of limitations and exceptions. The most common of these is a six-week plan, which excludes cover for treatments available on the NHS within six weeks.