Private Health (PMI) · monthly cost · 2026

How much is private health insurance per month in the UK?

Q: Why is my quote so much higher than the £80 average?

Usually age, and sometimes the cover you have chosen. The average blends every age together, so if you are older than the mid-point your price will sit above it - premiums rise steadily as claims become more likely. A full open hospital list, a nil excess and extra modules such as outpatient or dental cover also push the monthly figure up.

Q: Does the monthly price go up every year?

Typically yes. Two things push it up at renewal: you are a year older, which nudges the premium on its own, and medical inflation - the rising cost of treatment and claims - tends to lift prices across the board. Increases of several per cent a year are common. You can often blunt a renewal rise by reviewing the excess, hospital list and any modules.

Q: Is around £80 a month worth it for private health insurance?

That depends entirely on what you value, and it is not something we can decide for you. For roughly £80 a month a typical policy buys faster access to diagnosis and treatment, a choice of hospital and consultant, and skipping NHS waiting lists for eligible conditions. Whether that is good value comes down to your health, your finances and how much the waiting matters to you.

Most people want one number: what will it cost me a month? There isn’t a single answer, because the premium is built around your age and the cover you choose — but the averages give you a realistic starting point, and the age bands show where you’re likely to land.

See the monthly figures Private health hub

Quick answer

The short version

A single adult pays roughly £75–£85 a month on average in 2026 for comprehensive cover — recent analyses of thousands of quotes cluster around the £80 mark.
Age is the biggest lever: someone in their 30s might pay £40–£70, while someone in their 60s can be well over £150 for the same policy.
A couple is typically £135–£160 a month and a family of four around £160–£185 — children add far less than adults.
Paying monthly rather than annually usually adds a small instalment loading, so the headline “per month” figure isn’t always a twelfth of the annual price.

The numbers

Typical monthly premiums in 2026

Who’s covered	Typical 2026 monthly premium	Worth knowing
Single adult, 30s–40s	£45 – £95	The healthiest, cheapest years to buy; a mid-range excess keeps it down
Single adult, 50s	£90 – £150	Roughly 40% more than a 40-year-old for the same cover
Single adult, 60s+	£150 – £250+	Claims are more likely, so premiums climb steeply with age
Couple	£135 – £160	Joint policies often shave ~10% off two separate premiums
Family of four	£160 – £185	Two adults drive the price; the children add relatively little
Child added to a family plan	£15 – £30	The cheapest lives to insure — low claims risk

Indicative UK ranges for comprehensive cover in 2026, drawn from published averages across thousands of quotes — not a quote. Your own price depends on the insurer, the excess, the hospital list, any modules and your health history.

Reading the average

Why “about £80 a month” can be misleading

The widely quoted £80-ish average is real — it comes from crunching thousands of quotes — but an average flattens a very lumpy picture. A fit 32-year-old on a guided hospital list with a £250 excess might pay £45. Their parent at 64, wanting a full hospital list and outpatient cover with no excess, could be paying five times that. The single number sits in the middle and describes almost nobody exactly.

Age does most of the heavy lifting, and it does it relentlessly — premiums tend to step up a little every year as the odds of a claim rise. On top of that sit the choices you make: the excess you accept, whether you take a guided or open hospital list, and which optional modules you bolt on. Two people the same age can pay wildly different amounts because one stripped the policy back and the other loaded it up. If you want the mechanics behind that, our page on what drives the premium breaks each lever down.

Monthly vs annual

Paying monthly usually costs a touch more

Here’s a wrinkle worth knowing before you compare quotes. When an insurer shows a monthly price, that figure often includes a small instalment charge — effectively the cost of spreading the year’s premium over twelve payments rather than paying it in one go. It’s the same idea as paying for car insurance monthly. The gap is usually modest, but it means the “per month” number can be a little higher than the annual premium divided by twelve.

If cash flow is fine and you can cover the year up front, paying annually can be marginally cheaper. If you’d rather keep the money in your account and pay as you go, the convenience of monthly is usually worth the small premium. Neither is right or wrong — it just pays to check whether the quote you’re looking at is the monthly-instalment price or the annual one twelfthed.

Bringing it down

Getting the monthly figure lower

If the number that comes back feels steep, the policy design is where the savings live — not haggling. Raising the voluntary excess is the quickest win: agreeing to pay, say, the first £250 or £500 of any claim year drops the monthly premium, as long as you could actually find that money if you claimed. Choosing a guided hospital list instead of a full open one, and dropping modules you don’t need, both pull the figure down too.

A six-week NHS-wait option is another one people overlook: the insurer only steps in if the NHS can’t treat you within six weeks, which trims the premium meaningfully. We walk through the full set of levers on how to reduce your premium, and if you’re insuring more than yourself, family cover and cover for the over-60s both have their own quirks worth reading first. For the wider picture of what a policy funds, start at the private health hub.

Common questions

Monthly PMI cost: FAQs

How much is private health insurance per month in the UK in 2026?

For a single adult, the average is around £75–£85 a month for comprehensive cover, with recent quote analyses landing close to £80. But that average hides a wide spread: someone in their 30s might pay £45, while someone in their 60s could be paying £200 or more. Your age, excess, hospital list and any add-ons all move the figure, so treat the average as a starting point rather than a promise.

Why is my quote so much higher than the £80 average?

Usually age, and sometimes the cover you’ve chosen. The average blends every age together, so if you’re older than the mid-point your price will sit above it — premiums rise steadily as claims become more likely. A full open hospital list, a nil excess and extra modules such as outpatient or dental cover also push the monthly figure up. Stripping the policy back or accepting a higher excess brings it closer to the average again.

Is it cheaper to pay monthly or annually?

Paying the whole year up front is often marginally cheaper, because the monthly option usually carries a small instalment charge for spreading the cost — much like paying for car insurance monthly. The difference is normally modest. If you’d rather not part with a lump sum, monthly is perfectly reasonable; just check whether the “per month” price you’re quoted is the instalment figure or simply the annual premium divided by twelve.

How much does a couple’s or family policy cost a month?

As an indicative guide for 2026, a couple typically pays around £135–£160 a month and a family of four roughly £160–£185. A joint policy often works out about 10% cheaper than two separate adult premiums, and children are inexpensive to add because they rarely claim — so a family plan often costs only a little more than a couple’s. The two adults’ ages still drive most of the price.

Does the monthly price go up every year?

Typically yes. Two things push it up at renewal: you’re a year older, which nudges the premium on its own, and medical inflation — the rising cost of treatment and claims — tends to lift prices across the board. Increases of several per cent a year are common. You can often blunt a renewal rise by reviewing the excess, the hospital list and any modules rather than simply accepting the new figure.

Can I get the monthly cost down without dropping cover I need?

Often, yes. Raising the voluntary excess is the biggest single saving, provided you could meet it if you claimed. Choosing a guided hospital list rather than a full open one, and adding a six-week NHS-wait option, both trim the premium without gutting the core cover for consultations, scans and surgery. Dropping genuinely optional extras — dental, optical — helps too. It’s about trimming the policy design, not the protection that matters to you.

Is around £80 a month worth it for private health insurance?

That depends entirely on what you value, and it’s not something we can decide for you. For roughly £80 a month a typical policy buys faster access to diagnosis and treatment, a choice of hospital and consultant, and the reassurance of skipping NHS waiting lists for eligible conditions. Whether that’s good value comes down to your health, your finances and how much the waiting matters to you — so weigh the benefit against the cost for your own situation.

Information only — not financial advice. This page explains what private health insurance typically costs per month in the UK to help you budget and compare; the figures are indicative UK ranges, not quotes, and it is not a recommendation to buy, avoid or fund any policy or care. My Insurance Expert is not an FCA-authorised intermediary and does not arrange or sell policies. Last updated: 2026-09-19

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