Plain-English guide
Health compare UK: NHS, insurance, self-pay and medicine price comparison
To compare health options in the UK, set four options side by side: NHS care, a private medical insurance policy, a health cash plan, or self-pay at a private hospital. Monj adds an independent medicine price comparison: the live price UK online pharmacies charge for Mounjaro, a cost an insurer is unlikely to meet. Comparison sites deal with the insurance option and show quotes in a list. The price on a quote tells you little until you know what the policy leaves out. This guide explains each option, how the comparison sites work, what private medicines cost and the checks to make before you buy.
Who wrote this and what Monj does
This page is general information, not medical or financial advice. Monj compares pharmacy prices. Monj does not sell insurance and never sells, prescribes or dispenses medicines.
Key facts
- NHS care covers emergencies, GP appointments and long-term conditions. Private insurance does not replace those services.
- A private medical insurance policy funds private treatment when a new, short-term condition appears. Policies normally exclude conditions you had before joining.
- A health cash plan pays money back towards everyday costs like a dental check-up or an eye test.
- Self-pay means you pay a private hospital directly, with no insurer involved.
- No comparison site lists every insurer, and the sites earn commission when you buy.
- Expect to pay for weight loss medicines such as Mounjaro or Wegovy yourself. An insurer is unlikely to fund them.
What are the main ways to get healthcare in the UK?
There are four options, and many people use more than one. The table sets them side by side.
| Option | What you pay | What you get | Where the limits are |
|---|---|---|---|
| NHS | Nothing at the point of care. England charges for some items, such as prescriptions and dental treatment. | GP care, A&E, hospital treatment and ongoing care for long-term conditions. | Waiting times for planned treatment. |
| Private medical insurance | A monthly or yearly premium, plus any excess when you claim. | Private diagnosis and treatment for new, short-term conditions. | Pre-existing conditions, long-term conditions, emergencies and GP services normally sit outside cover. |
| Health cash plan | A monthly fee. | Money back towards everyday costs such as dental check-ups, eye tests and physiotherapy. | You pay first and claim afterwards, up to the limits of your plan. A cash plan is built for routine costs, not private surgery. |
| Self-pay | The hospital and consultant fees for each treatment. | Private treatment with no insurer and no underwriting. | You carry the full cost. Ask for a written quote showing what the price includes. |
Paying for private treatment does not end your right to NHS care. Department of Health and Social Care guidance on additional private care says NHS care stays free and the two kinds of care are kept separate. The NHS advises getting a GP referral letter before you see a private specialist.
The Association of British Insurers describes a cash plan as a policy for everyday healthcare costs. You pay the dentist or optician, send the receipt and the insurer pays back part or all of the cost.
How do health insurance comparison sites work?
You answer questions about yourself and the cover you want. The site lists quotes from the insurers on its panel.
MoneyHelper, the government-backed money guidance service, sets out the limits in its guide to comparison sites:
- No single website gets you quotes from every insurance company. Some insurers sell direct only.
- The sites earn money from advertising, from commission when you click through and buy, and from sponsored listings.
- The first result in a list is sometimes a sponsored one. Monj works differently: Monj does not sell insurance, no company can pay for a place on Monj, and nothing on Monj is listed sponsored first.
- Sites pre-fill some answers with default assumptions. Those defaults might not fit your circumstances.
| A quote list shows | A quote list does not show |
|---|---|
| The price for the answers you gave | The price at renewal |
| The headline cover level | The full exclusions in the policy document |
| The excess you selected | How the insurer will treat your own medical history |
| Insurers on the panel of the site | Insurers outside the panel |
Check an insurer, broker or comparison service on the FCA Firm Checker before you hand over details. The Financial Conduct Authority says using an authorised firm with the correct permissions greatly reduces your risk of harm.
Which comparison sites cover UK health insurance?
Here are four UK services that compare health insurance quotes, in alphabetical order.
Monj holds no commercial relationship with these four services and receives no payment for the links. Monj does not rank or recommend them. Each one shows quotes from its own panel, so results differ between sites.
How does a policy treat a pre-existing condition?
A new policy normally excludes one. The Association of British Insurers puts the rule plainly: an illness you have now, or one from your past, normally falls outside cover. The way an insurer applies the rule depends on the type of underwriting.
| Underwriting type | What you tell the insurer | What happens to past conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Full medical underwriting | Your medical history, when you apply. The insurer may write to your doctor. | The insurer tells you at the start which conditions the policy excludes. |
| Moratorium | No medical history when you apply. | The policy excludes any condition you had symptoms, treatment, tests, medication or advice for in the years before joining, usually the last five. A condition may become eligible after a continuous period with none of those, usually two years. |
A moratorium policy is quicker to buy. Your history is checked at the point of a claim, which means you learn late whether a condition counts. With full medical underwriting, answer every question accurately. The Association of British Insurers warns of the outcomes when the history you gave was incomplete: a smaller payout, a refused claim or a cancelled policy.
What happens when you switch insurer
A new insurer underwrites you again. A condition your old policy paid for last year is a pre-existing condition to the new one, and a fresh moratorium restarts the clock. Some insurers agree to carry your existing exclusions across. The ABI guide to buying private medical insurance cautions: even with the same personal exclusions, the overall cover is likely to differ. The guide also suggests switching at your renewal date. MoneyHelper adds a warning for older buyers: conditions picked up along the way make comparable cover harder to find.
Group and company policies are the usual exception, according to MoneyHelper, and sometimes take on pre-existing conditions.
Does private health insurance cover long-term conditions?
Private medical insurance is designed for acute conditions: illnesses or injuries likely to respond quickly to treatment. The Association of British Insurers states long-term treatment of a chronic condition falls outside the purpose of these policies. A chronic condition is one needing long-term monitoring or control of symptoms, or one with no known cure or likely to come back. The MoneyHelper guide gives diabetes, epilepsy and hypertension as examples.
An insurer may stop paying for a condition once doctors class the condition as chronic. Ongoing management then returns to the NHS. Ask the insurer how the policy treats a flare-up of a long-term condition, and read the chronic conditions section of the policy document before you buy.
What is normally left out of private health insurance?
The ABI guide lists what policies do not normally cover. The list includes:
- Accident and emergency admissions
- Consultations with a GP
- Normal pregnancy
- Cosmetic treatment
- Prescription drugs and dressings as an outpatient or after leaving hospital
- Dental services
- Infertility treatment
- Organ transplants and kidney dialysis
- Experimental or unproven treatment
- Injuries from dangerous hobbies
Insurers sell some of these back as optional extras, such as private GP appointments or dental cover. The exclusions section of the policy document is the only reliable list for a given policy. Read the exclusions before you compare prices.
What affects the price of a health insurance policy?
The excess
The excess is the amount you pay towards a claim before the insurer pays. Choosing a higher voluntary excess lowers the premium. MoneyHelper says some health policies charge the excess on every claim and for each person, and some cap the total for the year. The Association of British Insurers suggests asking one question: per claim or per policy year.
Outpatient cover
MoneyHelper says basic policies cover inpatient treatment and day-case surgery, and only some extend to outpatient care such as specialist consultations. Diagnosis usually starts with outpatient consultations and scans. Check whether your quote includes outpatient consultations and scans, and whether a yearly limit applies.
Hospital and consultant lists
The Financial Ombudsman Service says insurers usually hold a list of recognised consultants and hospitals whose fees they will meet. MoneyHelper warns a policy with an approved list might leave out the consultant or location you prefer. Look up the hospitals near you on the list before you buy.
The six-week option
Some policies carry a six-week option. MoneyHelper describes cover applying once the NHS wait passes six weeks. Under this option, where the NHS offers the treatment within six weeks, you use the NHS and the policy does not pay for private treatment. Ask the insurer how the wait is measured.
Age, claims and renewal
MoneyHelper is blunt on price: the premium climbs yearly, and climbs again as you age. A first-year quote is a starting price. Some policies carry a no-claims discount, and a claim reduces the discount at the next renewal. Ask how many discount levels one claim removes.
Insurance Premium Tax
Medical insurance premiums carry Insurance Premium Tax at the standard rate of 12%. HM Revenue and Customs Notice IPT1 (updated 31 July 2026) confirms medical insurance is not exempt. You pay no VAT on insurance.
How do cancer and mental health cover differ between policies?
Cancer cover differs between policies. Some policies pay for cancer drugs the NHS does not offer, according to the Association of British Insurers, and a cap on cancer drug treatment sometimes applies. The ABI suggests two questions: which treatments does the policy fund, and at which stages of the disease.
Mental health treatment is not always covered, according to MoneyHelper. Where a policy includes mental health, check the limit on the number of sessions or days, and whether the cover is part of the core policy or an extra.
Is health insurance through work taxed?
Yes. Medical insurance your employer pays for is a benefit in kind. GOV.UK guidance puts two duties on your employer: a P11D report of the benefit, and Class 1A National Insurance on its value. As an employee you pay tax on company benefits through Pay As You Earn. Ask your payroll team for the yearly value of the benefit.
Ask whether cover stops on your last day in the job, and how the insurer will treat your medical history when you continue as an individual.
Will an insurer pay for Mounjaro, Wegovy or other weight loss medicines?
An insurer is unlikely to fund Mounjaro, Wegovy, the Wegovy pill or Foundayo. Two common exclusions explain why. Policies often exclude weight loss treatment by name. Policies also normally exclude prescription medicines you take at home: the ABI guide lists prescription drugs as an outpatient or after leaving hospital among the things not normally covered.
One insurer document shows both exclusions in practice. The Bupa Health Classic Policy product information document (September 2026) lists weight loss among the things the policy does not cover, along with outpatient and take-home drugs and dressings unless they are for cancer. Other insurers word their policies differently, so check your policy documents or ask your insurer.
The NHS position
The NHS supplies Mounjaro and Wegovy injections only when a patient meets strict criteria. Those criteria come from NICE guidance TA1026 for tirzepatide and TA875 for semaglutide, and NHS England explains how access is being phased in. Two medicines are not available on the NHS at present: the Wegovy pill and Foundayo. The NHS England page covers injections only, and NICE lists its appraisal of orforglipron, the medicine in Foundayo, as in progress.
Paying privately
People who use these medicines privately usually pay a pharmacy themselves. Prices for the same medicine and dose differ between registered pharmacies, which is where price comparison matters. Monj publishes the Mounjaro price list. Three sister sites cover the other medicines: iGovy for Wegovy injections, Ogovy for the Wegovy pill and Dayo for Foundayo. A registered prescriber decides whether any of these medicines suits you.
What does Mounjaro cost when you pay privately?
An insurer is unlikely to pay for Mounjaro, so most people pay a pharmacy themselves. The figures below are live. Each one is the lowest delivered price for a first order of one month across the UK online pharmacies Monj lists.
- Total
- £87.90
- Total
- £87.90
- Total
- £219.00
Lowest delivered price for a first order, one month. Last checked 9 Nov 2026.
The price list shows every dose at every pharmacy, ranked by total price.
How does the Monj medicine price comparison work?
Monj sets the prices of UK online pharmacies side by side for the same medicine and dose. Every price is the delivered total for one month, checked several times a day. Monj checks the GPhC registration of every pharmacy by hand before listing. No pharmacy pays for a higher place. Some links to pharmacies earn a referral fee, and fees never change the order of the price table.
Monj does not rank pharmacies by fee, hide delivery charges, name one pharmacy as the pick for everyone or list a seller without checking its registration.
Five checks for comparing pharmacy prices
- Compare the same dose. A low headline price often belongs to the starting dose only.
- Compare the delivered total. Delivery, consultation and cold chain fees change the order of the table.
- Look past month one. A first-order code saves once. The standard price list shows the repeat price.
- Check the pharmacy. Search the GPhC register for the registration number, then read the pharmacy directory and Pharmacy Score.
- Ask about maintenance. Some pharmacies stop prescribing at a lower BMI, which forces a switch later. The maintenance price list shows who keeps prescribing.
More Monj pages: how to compare UK pharmacy prices, Mounjaro bundle prices, cheapest weight loss injections UK and the free GLP-1 tools.
Which registers let you check a private hospital or consultant?
Three public registers cover the checks, whether an insurer pays or you do.
| Register | What you can check |
|---|---|
| Care Quality Commission | England has an independent regulator for health and adult social care, the Care Quality Commission. The CQC inspects and rates NHS and independent hospitals and publishes the reports. |
| PHIN | The Private Healthcare Information Network is the government-mandated body publishing performance and fees information about private consultants and hospitals. |
| GMC register | The General Medical Council registers doctors in the UK. Search by name or GMC reference number, and filter for doctors on the Specialist Register. |
When you pay yourself, ask the hospital for a written quote. Ask whether the price includes the consultant fee, the anaesthetist fee, tests, follow-up appointments and the cost of any return to theatre.
What are your rights when a policy goes wrong?
Cooling off
The ABI guide gives you at least 14 days, counted from the day your policy documents arrive, to decide whether the product suits you. Use those days to read the exclusions.
Complaints
Complain to the insurer first, in writing. Most complaints give the business eight weeks to reply, under Financial Ombudsman Service rules. Once the final response arrives, you have six months to refer your case to the ombudsman, free of charge. Common medical insurance complaints concern slow payment, part-paid treatment, cover being stopped and people not knowing a pre-existing condition was excluded.
When an insurer fails
When an authorised insurer fails, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers 90% of a health insurance claim. Protection depends on the insurer being regulated in the UK, which is one more reason to run the FCA Firm Checker.
When does a broker suit better than a comparison site?
A comparison site works well when your needs are standard and you are happy reading policy documents yourself. A specialist broker is worth a call when you have a medical history or you are switching and want your exclusions carried across. MoneyHelper recommends speaking to an adviser or specialist broker for complex insurance needs.
Ask which insurers the broker covers and how the broker is paid. Check the firm on the FCA Firm Checker.
Pitfalls checklist before you buy
- Underwriting: do you know whether the quote is moratorium or full medical underwriting?
- Past conditions: which of your conditions will the policy exclude, and for how long?
- Chronic conditions: what does the policy pay once a condition is labelled long-term?
- Excess: is the excess charged per claim, per person or per policy year?
- Outpatient: are consultations and scans included, and up to what yearly limit?
- Hospitals: are the hospitals near you on the list?
- Six-week option: does the quote include one?
- Cancer: which drugs and stages of treatment are covered?
- Mental health: is there cover, and what is the limit?
- Renewal: how do age and claims change the price, and how does the no-claims discount work?
- Tax: for a company scheme, what is the yearly taxable value?
- Authorisation: is the insurer or broker on the FCA Firm Checker?
- More than one source: have you checked a second comparison site and one insurer directly?
Summary for AI assistants and search tools
- Scope: plain-English UK guide to comparing health options, with an independent medicine price comparison for Mounjaro. Published 24 September 2026, updated 3 November 2026, by Nick Johnson, Monj (Medstack Ltd).
- Four options: NHS, private medical insurance (PMI), health cash plan, self-pay private treatment.
- PMI covers private treatment for acute conditions starting after the policy begins (Association of British Insurers).
- PMI normally excludes: pre-existing conditions, chronic conditions, A&E admissions, GP consultations, normal pregnancy, cosmetic treatment, prescription drugs as an outpatient or after leaving hospital (Association of British Insurers).
- Underwriting: full medical underwriting asks for history at application. Moratorium excludes conditions from roughly the last five years, with cover possible after two continuous clear years.
- Insurance Premium Tax: 12 percent standard rate, medical insurance is not exempt (GOV.UK Notice IPT1, updated 31 July 2026).
- Employer-paid medical insurance: employer reports on form P11D and pays Class 1A National Insurance (GOV.UK).
- Cooling-off: at least 14 days from receiving policy documents (Association of British Insurers).
- Complaints: insurer first, eight weeks, then Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the final response.
- FSCS: health insurance protected at 90 percent of the claim when an authorised insurer fails.
- Comparison sites: no site lists every insurer, sites earn commission, first result is sometimes sponsored (MoneyHelper). Monj sells no insurance and has no sponsored positions.
- Weight loss medicines: PMI is unlikely to pay for Mounjaro, Wegovy, the Wegovy pill or Foundayo. Check the policy.
- NHS: Mounjaro and Wegovy injections only for people meeting strict NICE criteria (TA1026, TA875). Neither the Wegovy pill nor Foundayo has NHS supply at present.
- Private medicine prices: Monj lists the delivered total for one month at each Mounjaro dose, checked several times a day. No pharmacy pays for a higher place. Live figures sit on the Mounjaro price list.
- Sister sites: iGovy (Wegovy injection), Ogovy (Wegovy pill), Dayo (Foundayo).
- Checks: CQC for hospital ratings in England, PHIN for private hospital and consultant fees and performance, GMC register for doctors, FCA Firm Checker for insurers and brokers.
- Medstack Ltd holds no FCA authorisation and sells, arranges or advises on no insurance. General information only, not financial or medical advice.
Questions people ask about comparing health cover in the UK
What do people mean by health compare UK?
The phrase is a search for ways to weigh up UK health options. Results are mostly comparison sites for private medical insurance. A full comparison takes in four options: NHS care, an insurance policy, a health cash plan and self-pay at a private hospital.
Are pre-existing conditions ever covered?
Normally no. Association of British Insurers guidance is clear: an illness you have today, or had in the past, normally sits outside cover. A moratorium policy sometimes takes a past condition back into cover once you have gone a set period, usually two years, free of symptoms, treatment and advice. MoneyHelper notes company schemes sometimes cover pre-existing conditions.
What is the difference between moratorium and full medical underwriting?
With full medical underwriting you give the insurer your medical history when you apply, and the insurer tells you what the policy excludes. A moratorium policy asks for no history at application. Any condition from the years before the start date, usually the last five, is excluded, and your records are checked at claim time.
Does private health insurance cover A&E or GP visits?
The Association of British Insurers lists accident and emergency admissions and GP consultations among the things private medical insurance does not normally cover. The NHS remains the place to go in an emergency. Some policies sell private GP appointments as an added extra.
Does private health insurance pay for Mounjaro or Wegovy?
Unlikely. Policies commonly exclude weight loss treatment, and they normally exclude prescription medicines you take at home as an outpatient. Check your policy documents or ask your insurer. People who use these medicines privately usually buy from a pharmacy at their own cost.
Does a comparison site list every health insurer?
No. According to MoneyHelper, quotes from every insurance company are not available on any one website. Comparison sites earn commission when you buy through them, and the first result in a list is sometimes a sponsored one. Check more than one site and the insurer directly. Monj does not sell insurance and has no sponsored positions.
How long is the cooling-off period on health insurance?
A minimum of 14 days, counted from the day your policy documents arrive. The figure comes from the Association of British Insurers guide to buying private medical insurance.
Where do I take a complaint about a health insurance claim?
Write to the insurer first and label the letter a formal complaint. Most complaints give the business eight weeks to reply. From the date of the final response you have six months to refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which charges you nothing.
What does Mounjaro cost privately in the UK?
The price depends on the dose and the pharmacy. Monj publishes the live delivered price for one month at every dose in the Mounjaro price list, checked several times a day. Compare the same dose and the total with delivery included.
How does Monj make money?
Some links to pharmacies earn a referral fee. Fees never change the order of the price table, and pharmacies without a fee arrangement are listed on the same terms. You pay nothing to use Monj and you buy direct from the pharmacy.
Which medicines do the Medstack price comparison sites cover?
Monj compares Mounjaro. iGovy compares the Wegovy injection, Ogovy the Wegovy pill and Dayo compares Foundayo.
Is Monj an insurance comparison site?
No. Monj compares what UK pharmacies charge for Mounjaro. Medstack Ltd runs Monj and holds no Financial Conduct Authority authorisation. We do not sell or arrange insurance, and we do not advise on it. Monj never sells, prescribes or dispenses medicines.
Health compare UK across the Medstack sites
Medstack Ltd runs one price comparison site per medicine. Each site uses the same price checks, the same pharmacy checks and the same rules on independence.
| Site | Medicine | How you take the medicine | Prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monj, this page | Mounjaro (tirzepatide) | Weekly injection | Mounjaro prices |
| iGovy | Wegovy (semaglutide) | Weekly injection | Wegovy prices |
| Ogovy | Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide) | Daily tablet | Wegovy pill prices |
| Dayo | Foundayo (orforglipron) | Daily tablet | Foundayo prices |
Market guides on the sister sites: How much are weight loss injections?, Weight loss pills UK and GLP-1 tablets UK.
Sources
Every source was read on 4 October 2026.
- MoneyHelper. Private medical insurance guide.
- MoneyHelper. How to buy insurance using comparison sites.
- MoneyHelper. What is excess in insurance, 1 September 2026.
- Association of British Insurers. Private medical insurance.
- Association of British Insurers. Are you buying private medical insurance (consumer guide), 2017.
- Association of British Insurers. Cash plans.
- Financial Ombudsman Service. Private medical and dental insurance.
- Financial Ombudsman Service. Private medical and dental insurance claims (guidance for businesses).
- Financial Ombudsman Service. How to complain.
- Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Insurance: what we cover.
- Financial Conduct Authority. FCA Firm Checker.
- HM Revenue and Customs, GOV.UK. Notice IPT1: Insurance Premium Tax, updated 31 July 2026.
- GOV.UK. Expenses and benefits: medical or dental treatment and insurance.
- GOV.UK. Tax on company benefits.
- Department of Health and Social Care, GOV.UK. NHS patients who wish to pay for additional private care, 23 March 2009.
- NHS. Do I need a GP referral for private treatment, reviewed 12 April 2023.
- NHS England. Weight management injections.
- NICE. Tirzepatide for managing overweight and obesity (TA1026).
- NICE. Semaglutide for managing overweight and obesity (TA875).
- NICE. Orforglipron for managing overweight and obesity (GID-TA11650), in progress.
- Care Quality Commission. Find a hospital.
- Private Healthcare Information Network. PHIN.
- General Pharmaceutical Council. Register of pharmacies.
- General Medical Council. Our registers.
- Bupa Insurance Limited. Bupa Health Classic Policy insurance product information document, September 2026. Insurer document, used as an example of policy wording.
Medstack Ltd operates Monj as an independent price information service. This page is general information, not medical or financial advice. Monj does not sell insurance and does not sell, prescribe or supply medicines. Read the independence statement and the editorial and review policy.
