Physiotherapists & Medical Insurance

This evening I read in the Runners World Guide To Running that some medical insurance policies include £800 worth of outpatient care, which is what a physiotherapist is classed as. The example given is for a 30 year old male living in Brighton would get this policy for £36.00 per month.

The article then goes on to say "so, if you pop to your GP and tell them about your problem and ask for a referral for insurance purposes they will write one happily."

I guess I am curious about all this because it possibly seems to good to be true. You could potentially get a course of physio treatment for a back issue and medical cover for less than the £45 to £50 a private session would cost should you go direct to the physio and pay for the treatment yourself. I am thinking I would be at the GP every other week asking to see a physio for stiff joints, shoulder pain, lower back issues or whatever.....

Has anyone first hand experience of this?

I use my private Insurance for Physio - what I did was saw my GP and had a referal to the Knee Sports Injury Specialist.  He then assessed my injury ( and it fitted one of the strict criteria for policy cover) and referred me to Physio.  All this came out of my oupatient allowance, but be carefull with the rates that are charged since outpatient allowance will soon be eaten up.

Not sure if existing conditions will be treated, and also I'm pretty sure that wear and tear etc will not be covered.  With my case the physio had to be associated to a new injury / illness that occured after the policy started, and the physio had to be a treatment rather than rehabilitaion.

 I would suggest you read your policy small print and good luck!

You might get away with this for a year (subject to the conditionsthat Anny has mentioned), but I suspect that the cost would increase astronomically after that!

The physio would also have to be on the insurance company's list of approved physios.