You are Covered by Insurance: AXA, Aviva, Bupa, Cigna, Helix & WPA, not always Vitality*

At Physico, we're recognised by all major insurers including AXA, Aviva, Bupa, Cigna, Helix and WPA.Knowing how your insurance works can help you save time, money, and stress when managing injuries or recovery. This guide details how health insurance functions with us, and provides essential information about your authorisation codes, excesses, claims, and outlines how we try to simplify the whole process for you.

Understanding Private Health Insurance for Treatment

Private health insurance in the UK typically covers physiotherapy and osteopathy as outpatient treatment, but the specifics vary between insurers and policies. Most policies cover you for acute injuries or specific conditions, but often exclude chronic conditions or maintenance treatment.

How Insurance Covered Treatment Works

When you book an appointment at our clinic, using your private health insurance, the process typically follows these steps:

Understanding Policy Excess and Limits

1. Make an appointment: You contact us either by phone, email or through our website, mentioning you have health insurance.
2. Insurance details: We'll ask for your insurer's name, policy membership number and your authorisation code. Most insurers require pre-authorisation which you can get by contacting your insurer. You'll receive an authorisation code, usually valid for a specific number of sessions.
3. Excess payment: If your policy includes an excess (most do), you'll pay this once we’ve had your first session. The excess typically ranges from £50 to £250 depending on your policy. It is important you check this, as Physico will need to collect any excess payment directly from you at the time of booking.
4. Ongoing treatment: Subsequent sessions are billed to your insurer up to the authorised number of sessions and your policy's annual limit.
5. Documentation: We provide treatment notes and progress reports to your insurer, upon request, ensuring compliance with their clinical guidelines.

Most health insurance policies incorporate an excess - a specified amount that must be paid by the policyholder before the insurer assumes coverage of costs. Excesses generally range from £50 to £250 per condition, per policy year. A clear understanding of how the excess operates is essential for effective management of expenses.

The excess is typically applied per condition, rather than per appointment. For instance, with a £100 excess, if physiotherapy is required for a knee injury, the initial payment of £100 will be made at the first session. Further sessions related to the same condition are thereafter covered by the insurer, subject to the limits stipulated in the policy. Should treatment be needed for a separate condition, such as a shoulder injury, a new excess may be applicable, again contingent upon the terms of the policy.

Policy limits define the maximum number of sessions or the total cost that the insurer will cover per condition, per year. Common session limits include five, six, ten, or twelve sessions per condition. Certain policies, however, set annual monetary caps (for example, £1,000 for physiotherapy each year) instead of session limits. Awareness of these restrictions is important for informed treatment planning.

*Insurance provider not accepted (Vitality)

Physico accepts Vitality patients on a self-funding basis. This means you need to pay Physico for each session. Please speak to Vitality to verify whether you can claim back any eligible costs from them for these sessions.