Health insurance, or private medical insurance as it’s also known, will cover the cost of private medical treatment for illnesses or injuries that are curable and short term (also known as ‘acute conditions’).
Note that health insurance in Luxembourg isn’t designed to replace the CNS Luxembourg but to work alongside it.
Some essential medical services, such as GPs and A&E, are outside the scope of private hospitals.
What are the advantages?
Taking out health insurance means you could avoid waiting lists and may get treated quicker.
You should also be able to choose your preferred hospital and consultant.
What’s more, you should expect to get your own private room rather than a bed in an open (and perhaps mixed) ward. Your own en-suite could be another advantage.
It could also be possible to gain access to medication and treatments that might not be available with your current social security health plan.
Types of health insurance policy
The main policy choices to decide between are:
Individual health insurance
Only offers cover for you as an individual.
Family health insurance
Provides medical protection for the whole family unit.
Child health insurance
Protects your children should they need medical treatment.
Joint health insurance
Ensures that both you and your partner are covered if you need private medical care.
Health care cash plans
With health care cash plans you pay a monthly premium and, if you receive medical treatment, send the receipt to your insurer who will reimburse you.
These enable you to claim back money that you’ve spent on specific healthcare, for example dental treatment, chiropodist appointments and eye tests.
Did you know…?
- Physiotherapy is not covered but is a policy option that you could include on private medical insurance
What does health insurance cover?
This is dependent on the product you choose – it’s up to you to select the level of cover that you require at a price you can afford.
Health insurance cover ranges from budget policies offering a basic set of benefits to the higher-priced end of the scale which gives more extensive treatment and help.
Always check what you’ll be covered for with the insurer before choosing a policy, but it could include:
In-patient treatments
In-patient treatment would see the policy holder hospitalised for one or more nights.
Day-patient treatments
Being a day patient would mean the policy holder attending a hospital or clinic on a regular basis, or for a period that lasts at least half a day, but not being hospitalised.
Out-patient treatments
Out-patient treatments include diagnosis, investigations, consultations or treatments that don’t require the patient to be hospitalised overnight. These will be included on more comprehensive policies but not on basic ones.
Optional cover
You could choose optional extras to give yourself a more comprehensive policy which is tailored to your needs. Typical options include:
Psychiatric treatment
If you’re diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, including clinical depression or schizophrenia, you could get cover for both day-patient and in-patient treatment.
Physiotherapy
It could be useful to add physiotherapy to your policy if you play sports or dance frequently – such treatment is not covered by the CNS.
Dental and optical care
This can be used to cover any routine dental check-ups and optical fees that you have during your policy period. Note that you may have to pay an excess.
Home nursing
If you require at-home help after having private in-patient treatment, you can choose to add home nursing to your policy to aid your recovery.
Cancer cover
Whether cancer cover is covered will depend on your policy so always read the terms and conditions carefully.
Things such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery may be included, as well as bone marrow and stem cell transplants.
What’s excluded from private medical insurance?
Any pre-existing conditions that you have may not be covered under health insurance – cerebral palsy or epilepsy, for example.
Emergency treatment isn’t covered either.
For a full list of what your policy does and doesn’t offer, make sure you read the terms and conditions with care.
Factors affecting the cost of your premium
Insurers will consider many different factors when calculating your insurance premium to determine how much of a risk you pose.
Age
Your age is a key consideration as older policy holders tend to make more claims on their health insurance.
Tobacco use
You’ll be asked if you smoke because smokers are more likely to contract conditions such as lung and throat cancer.
Insurers will want to know about your use of any type of tobacco, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, e-cigarettes and nicotine patches.