Without wanting to be bombarded by countless calls from salesmen by actually ringing someone up or getting an online quote, what sort of cost would I be looking at for private healthcare for a family of four?

Obviously if it is in the ballpark of what I can afford I will have to bite the bullet but would just like to get an idea of the sort of costs to expect.

Cheers

We’re with AXA and it’s £55 per adult and £30 per child (both per month) for their “executive cover” via my employer.

I get private with my work, but to include my wife and son that would be a further £75 p/m or so. I can’t remember the exact figure that’s in my P11D for me and it’s a custom scheme for my employer (as opposed to off-the-shelf) but I’d have thought for the level of care (non-assessed) I’d have thought at least another £50 p/m wouldn’t be unrealistic.

I’d be amazed if you can get anything for £50/month, more like £50/week ball park.

I was paying around 2800 a year for full international coverage exluding America, with a young child 18 months old, full SOS emergency cover flown out to nearest suitable hospital.

That was for my wife and child.

It was expensive, there was cheaper, but they didn’t have a mutual deal with the SOS centre and their plane.

I’ve got Pruhealth cover because it makes the gym membership cheaper (price of both is cheaper than full-price gym) – £21/mo per adult for standard cover.

£100 pm for family cover, paid it for 18 yrs never claimed.

All depends what you want, had quotes with about a 300% variation last time I looked in the UK. Waiting periods, excess, limits etc. all play a part.
Some professional institutions get a hefty discount on some policies so worth checking those out.

What sort of cover do you get for £21/month fionap? Dental insurance cost that!

According to my P11D the Simply Health policy I get through work is ~£1,300 per year for the wife and I. Covers Doctors and Dentists.

I have claimed substantially more than that even after paying the £100 per year excess.

We’re more fatalistic.

No health insurance, just Critical Illness and Life insurance.

What sort of cover do you get for £21/month fionap? Dental insurance cost that!

It’s surprisingly comprehensive although it is their ‘core cover’, no extras, and I went for a large excess to keep the premiums down. It doesn’t include regular dental insurance although it covers max-fax type post-trauma work.
It probably helps that I’m relatively young and to date, healthy, and haven’t ever claimed. It’s tied into ‘lifestyle’ changes (e.g. gym visits) and annual health check-ups so I guess they keep the premiums down by not insuring anyone who isn’t healthy to start with.

If it didn’t make the gym cheaper I wouldn’t have private insurance – more than happy to support the NHS.

Wsa doing my tax return this morning and mine, through my employer is £862 per year, that includes my wife.

In general the profits and admin costs of most insurers will run towards 30%. Some insurers are very selective and difficult about referrals. And I struggle to think of many things that – outside some of the bigger private London Hospitals – that cost > £10,000 that you’d want handled in the private sector.

Sometimes you get great “Hotel” services and admin, but not always great care when it goes titsup…

So unless you are being paid for in a way which doesn’t over stress your P11d, (after all – employers who are paying for this really want to minimise sickness at the cost of your tax bill…) my standard advice to those who ask, is either be willing to pay private outpatient consults and tests out of cash… or get a quote, then put that amount on one side in an interest earning account as a contingency fund. ie Carry the risk yourself and don’t pay the admin and profit. And stop when you’ve got perhaps 10k in the account.

And do not, repeat do not, go to a private health screen organised by your employers. Almost nothing they do is evidence based, and it can screw your life/critical illness premiums if they find something interesting about which not much can be done.

The other way to look at it is rather than paying £1,000s in premiums, just save the money yourself

Private health is good for beating long lists, and getting a 2nd opinion.

Pay to see the consultant privately to get the advice and then go on an NHS list.

If you need anything urgent then the NHS will give it to you urgently.

This of course excludes the fact the private surgery is more risky than NHS

Mine is £250 via Axa with family of 4. this include continuation of claims due to a shoulder op and slipped disc with back op that I claimed for in the last 5 years. Without, it wul have been about £150.

According to my P11D the Simply Health policy I get through work is ~£1,300 per year for the wife and I. Covers Doctors and Dentists.

Most work-based schemes will ‘cost’ at the previous years overall cost, divided by the number of employees covered.

I use to get it with work, and it worked out cheap as covered me and all my family (including my kids with the ex-wife).

But now, this:

The other way to look at it is rather than paying £1,000s in premiums, just save the money yourself

Private health is good for beating long lists, and getting a 2nd opinion.

Pay to see the consultant privately to get the advice and then go on an NHS list.

If you need anything urgent then the NHS will give it to you urgently.

+1

Just remember that once you’re private, you’re private and that private healthcare in the UK is an insurance product ie: premiums are kept low by managing claims ie: you may well find yourself with a massive bill just at a time when you’re ill.

Bupa have in recent years had real difficulty making the business work – medical costs are increasing, the population is getting older and not dying off so their costs are going through the roof – to the point where no-one can afford the premiums they need to keep the business profitable… in that environment you expect lack of generosity in paying claims!

So def do your research into EXACTLY what is and isn’t covered and the implications if you find yourself in treatment and cover running out…

I only have private because the company pays – yes I know I pay tax towards it but mostly the company pays

Private health is good for beating long lists, and getting a 2nd opinion.
Pay to see the consultant privately to get the advice and then go on an NHS list.
If you need anything urgent then the NHS will give it to you urgently.
This of course excludes the fact the private surgery is more risky than NHS
Avoiding long lists – True, private is better but there are still waiting times. The better part in my opinion is that you can plan when things will happen. I was advised to get my ankle fused in February and when I asked if I could delay the op I was advised that would be okay but get it done within 12 months. I booked a 10:30 check in on a specific date in September and that was when I had the operation. This let me enjoy the good weather and help host the Big Bike Bash and then get the op done. Winter stuck on crutches is better than summer.

2nd Opinions – Often worth going for first opinions too. The NHS specialists simply won’t tell you what all the options are if they are unavailable in the NHS at the moment. Also they are far more likely to send you home to rest than submit you to x-rays, scans and other tests. Be aware the private guys are salesmen as well as consultants but so far I haven’t seen this manifest itself too blatantly.

See private and then go NHS – An option but see point 1 about planning. NHS told MrsWCA it would be between 4 and 16 weeks for her operation and couldn’t give anything more accurate. This meant 3 months of summer where we couldn’t book a holiday as we were advised that if we declined the date thay gave us we would start queuing again.

Urgent stuff and operations you can use the NHS for – Definitely NHS. It was a 999 emergency dealt with by the NHS that saved my ankle. I was then told I wouldn’t be able to the consultant again for 3 months despite being told I would be having my foot amputated in 3 months time. I went over the road to the private clinic and saw the very same consultant 3 weeks later. He was very pleased to see me as it was a difficult operation and he wanted to see some of the aftercare. NHS aftercare was “Here are some crutches. Do not put any load through your foot and stay in bed with you leg elevated until you come back for the amputation” NHS patch you up and send you home. Private are less good at the emergency or big operations but have better aftercare

At least £100 a month realistically

One NHS

APF

Less than the NHS for a lot of people but they have already paid for the NHS*.

Tax breakdown for £25,500 salary

£2,080 Pensions and Benefits
(including £212 on Housing Benefit and £296 on Incapacity Benefits)
£1,094 on the NHS
£824 on Education
£339 on Defence
£160 on the Police
£44 on Prisons
£92 on Roads
£71 on Railways

*I fully support the NHS and would rather there was more money directed towards it and other social improvements. The government should take care of the poor and the needy as the rich and the privileged tend to be able to take care of themselves.

Wsa doing my tax return this morning and mine, through my employer is £862 per year, that includes my wife.

same, according to my p11d it was £548 – wife is on the policy too

Less than the NHS for a lot of people but they have already paid for the NHS.

We pay quite a lot less for health care (as a percentage of GDP) than quite a lot of other countries, including those with private systems.