[Closed] Private health insurance?

You [i]can[/i] afford to be injured or you can not?

Assuming it's the latter, I'd get a quote from the thieving bastards and simply put that amount of many away each month.

What trade are you in?

Read the small print and exclusions very, very, very carefully, also establish CLEARLY how much will be paid out for how long. Then do some maths then just go out and ride in a sensible manner.

I ride in self employed over 50 mode, both factors influencing my chosen line and speed.

Pru do a private health policy that sounds pretty good. In brief, you pay your first year premium, then in yr 2 onwards if you are active and fullfill their activity requirements (most of us on STW would do it easily) then in the 2nd yr they discount the annual premium by as much as 100% of the first yr premium. For example if you pay £1200 in yr 1, but in yr 2 that goes up to £1350, you could get up to £1200 discount meaning that yr 2 will only cost £150 in total.

if you are self-employed you'd be daft not to already have insurance covering loss-of-earnings, and its tax deductable if the 'company' pays

Im an electrician, and as much as anything else, it would also be for the fact that i would get better, quicker treatment for any injuries. I know of one person who had a ten month wait for an op on his knee through the NHS. He's now with bupa, and they said they would have operated within 2 months...

There are many different types depending on what you want the cover to do.

Your best bet is to sit down with an IFA to work out what you need, a decent IFA will have a full understanding of the products available and what can and can't be done given your circumstances. Don't buy directly from the banks or an insurance firm (the majority of missold insurance policies are sold by banks & insurance firms directly IIRC). Ask to see copies of the policy key features and sample policy documents and take your time to read it properly, ask questions of any bits you don't understand or need clariication on and then work out if its worth paying the premiums for the cover you will get.

I'm not actually self employed either...

Assuming it's the latter, I'd get a quote from the thieving bastards and simply put that amount of many away each month.

I agree completely.
It's a numbers game. If you are more healthy than average then you are likely to be subsidising those that aren't.
Of course premiums will be loaded for certain identifiable risk factors like smoking status etc, but at the end of the day they make a profit on everyone.
Private health insurance is not the same as loss of earnings cover referred to above of course- I would consider that essential for anyone who is self employed- payed for my locum when I was off for 3 months after MTB induced shoulder injury 2 yrs ago.

[i]He's now with bupa, and they said they would have operated within 2 months...[/i] ...whether he needed it or not...

One of my friends goes private, and has had 3 ops this year for conditions which, with a bit of patience would most probably have sorted themselves out.

If docs get paid for doing operations, they'll do operations; it's like going to a bike shop and saying 'find a problem with this bike that I can pay you to fix'...

Funnily enough I have always despised private medicine but for a few years now I have qualified for a a PPP Axa scheme at work - no immediate cash cost just a loss of a few £'00 personal allowance but no cash alternative so I took it and never really thought about it too much - I've always been really lucky with health. Then I started mtbing 10 yrs ago and the falls onto my outstretched right hand have ended up in a repeatedly dislocating shoulder and I made my first claim today for an initial scan thingy. Appointment booked for two weeks time. Its all call centre based that is rather tedious but efficient and polite so far.

back in Tory days of endless waits my dad paid a kings ransom for a private hip replacement - not well done and had to be redone 3 yrs later (this time NHS waiting lists under good control) and nhs did a proper job.

Crikey - it definitely wouldnt have soreted itself out... he had 2 torn ligaments in his knee... which meant 9 months of hobbling around on crutches, unable to do do any kind of physical activity...

Will talking to an indipendant advisor cost me? If so, how much?

I claimed for some out-patient physio, and the lady took all the details of my accident and time in hospital - a couple of weeks later a large cheque turned up.

Seemed that they paid out (company scheme so hadn't realised) if you didn't take advantage of the private cover, and just went NHS - £100 per night!