Is your employer's health cover enough?

If your company gives you health insurance, it's genuinely valuable, free cover, usually no waiting period, often including your family. The mistake is treating it as your entire health insurance plan.

It disappears exactly when you're most exposed

Group cover belongs to your employer, not to you. Resign, get laid off, take a career break or retire, and it stops, usually with immediate effect. That's often the same moment your income stops, which is precisely when you can least afford to be uninsured.

The cover is often thinner than it looks

• Sums insured are frequently modest, enough for a routine admission, not for a serious illness in a metro hospital.
• Room-rent caps and co-payments are common in group plans and quietly shrink what's actually paid.
• Your employer can reduce the benefits, or change insurer, at any renewal. You get no say.

Buying young is a benefit you can't get back

The strongest argument for a personal policy isn't this year's cover, it's the clock. Waiting periods start the day you buy, and premiums are set by your age and health at entry. Buy at 28 while you're healthy and you've served your waits and locked in a good rate by the time you actually need them. Wait until 40 and a condition has appeared, and you'll pay more for less.

The sensible structure

Keep the employer cover, it's free. Add a personal base policy so you're never uninsured between jobs, and consider a super top-up for serious-illness protection. Your employer plan can then act as the first layer, which keeps your personal premium low.

Employer cover is a nice bonus. It shouldn't be the only thing standing between your family and a hospital bill. If you're not sure how much personal cover you need alongside it, we'll work it out with you for free.

This guide is general information to help you understand your options, not financial or tax advice. Please consider your own circumstances and consult a qualified professional where needed.