Talk to me about private health cover

Hi all,

I’m not wishing for this to descend into a political or ideological discussion. I’m generally a big fan of the NHS but due to some recent spectacular failings with close family members, which I don’t want to get into, I am considering getting some healthcare cover.

I’m totally new to this. Prices range from £20 for basic cover with excess up to eye-watering sums for full cover with no excess. I’m in my early 30s, healthy and exercise regularly, with no pre-existing conditions. But if something does go wrong, I don’t want to be sat in a months-long waiting list for a scan or similar.

Some advice on what kind of cover to go for and others experiences of the myriad insurers would be good… If I do make a claim, even something trivial like going to see a GP, will the insurer hike my premium the next year? As in, a few years down the line, will the premiums be enormous? I really don’t understand how this business works.

Thank you in advance.

R.

What will you lose if you do have to wait for NHS treatment? Are you self employed, or not have sick pay?

You could save the premiums into a separate account and use it to pay for anything you need at the time maybe?

Price depends on age and pre-existing conditions, but my cover was about £800/year through work IIRC. They won’t cover you for existing conditions and have various exclusions. Anything super serious eg cancer / heart attacks I suspect you’ll ending up using the NHS anyway.

For non urgent stuff eg MRI for sports injuries / hips / knees etc you get sorted very quickly as in appointment within a week, scan within a few days after that, surgery a week or so later.

Always paid more in premiums than I’ve ever got out of it mind….

Could you get this through work in any way? It can be expensive for reasonable cover otherwise.

It generally allows you to ‘jump’ queues, and use staff and facilities out of hours, as well as private hospitals like Nuffield. Ours at work has health checks for employee and family built into it. I’ve used my health cover a fair bit over the years (bike crashes).

I had reason to look into equivalent cover for a widow and family; it was around £9k PA, but only would ‘cost’ an employee £1500 on a P11D – hence my question/ suggestion can you get this through work?

I’ve generally had it through work – only used once, but it came in very handy.

Although dental wasn’t covered, there was an exception for wisdom tooth work – I had problems with an impacted WT which was causing problems. NHS said they’d do it with a local – got a referral to go private and it was done a lot sooner and under general (which, in discussions with the surgeon on a follow up, it would have to have been anyway). Good aftercare too – the specialist gave me his direct number as there were complications and fitted me in around other patients when it was causing real problems.

Disappointingly when I moved jobs, although my new employer said they offered private health, they didn’t ever enrol me, so when I tried to claim for a sports injury I wasn’t covered. Quite annoying as I would have had a full continuity of cover but now (in my latest job) I suspect I won’t be covered for anything to do with the injury as it would be deemed pre-existing, despite me being with them for years beforehand. This is Bupa, BTW.

I get private medical through work. It has been EXTREMELY worth while for me. I have had six ankle operations in the last 8 years, each booked on the week I requested and almost unlimited physio after each one.

This doesn’t include the emergency one that saved the foot in the first place (NHS) which I waited 9 hours for while being drip fed morphine when I screamed loud enough to disturb that Drs so they came to my trolley in the corridor to see what the fuss was.

The first private operation was booked when the NHS Dr told me that the only operation he would offer was a non-traumatic amputation. The private Dr explained that there was only a 65% chance of success as the ankle bone was so smashed and talked me through the process. Each of the next three years I had further operations to strengthen the joint and the last two operations were to fuse the joints further down my foot where there was total arthritis and pain.

One little ladder made private worth while. I have also used it for a number of other things but for me the main benefit is that they will try the best operation rather than the easiest/cheapest/quickest and also that you can book appointments quickly and to suit you.

Worth speaking to them about “pre-existing” conditions. They often will cover you if it’s well in the past or if you pay a slightly elevated premium (e.g. Mrs Dubs had ACL at 19 ish, by the time she was 30 didn’t need to disclose any more).

We’re lucky in that my work healthcare covers everything (inc. pre-existing) so Mrs Dubs was able to get he knees covered when she was put on my policy.
It has an “aches and pains” line where you can bypass a GP referral to go straight to physio + “Doctor on-Call” where you can get a video appointment same / early next day.

I get private medical through work.

I can’t believe WCA gets cover. He must be bankrupting them.

I think if ever there was a good time to take out private health insurance, now is it! What with minor ops and even referrals taking so much longer than normal, if anything serious did happen, you may be up shit creek without a paddle.

I cancelled mine last year and am building a pot of cash for private work if I need it. My dad did the same as his premiums become eye watering so he put the premiums in a separate account.

After 20 years house insurance with no claims I am thinking of doing the same with house insurance.

Do you really need Insurance? – last year my father was on a 4 month waiting list to see a consultant so the GP recommended we went private. Booked a private appointment with a consultant for the next day. It was £200 but the medication he prescribed was free on the NHS. A follow up session was also on the NHS as my father was now on the consultant’s list of patients.

Obviously depends on what’s wrong with you but a Pay As You Go approach might work out cheaper than years of premiums for a service you never use.

I don’t know if this works for health but we stopped a lot of insurances a while ago and instead set up a savings account for self insurance. Cancelled cover for home electronics / accidental damage, income protection, pet insurance etc. Also stopped paying for things like legal cover and ramped up excess on insurances we kept (to reduce premiums). We then put the money we saved into the account through standing order. It has quickly reached an amount to cover most risk. We also use it for replacing end of life white goods etc. At some point this will pretty much top out and then we will either reduce monthly payments or chuck more into over-payment on mortgage

Perhaps not viable for high value things like health but worth considering, especially given that you have NHS to fall back on

Cover through a large employer scheme is worth it. Large employers get better rates and can spread risk over a larger population so you’re more likely to get cover for pre-existing conditions after say 6 months. In the last 5 years I’ve had a finger fixed and my wife’s had a hip replaced – premiums are way less than the hip.

Taking out cover in a personal capacity – I’d run the numbers on a savings account.

Don’t assume you’ll get instant treatment this year – there’s a good chance that private hospitals will be taken over by the NHS again (which I completely support)

Cards on the table: I would physically fight to save the NHS, and after various events it’s been crucial for family members and I. I can’t sing the praises of it enough.

However, private insurance through work literally saved my wife’s life a few years back. A combination of an existing mental health issue compounded by a chronic physical disability that nearly had her giving up and removing herself from the equation. We got basically nowhere in the NHS, to the point where we nearly started proceedings against her GP.
However, referral through her work private scheme started a process that, although still a long haul, has ultimately led to her issues being manageable.
It was circa £50/month for our family, and having seen some of the bills, was easily with it.
I still have trouble countenancing the thought that we’d effectively jumped a waiting list through our privilege, but as my fully paid up lefty sister pointed out, us paying meant there was more time and money on the NHS for someone else.
If you can afford it, go for it. (We were only in our early 30s as well)

As somebody who deals with PMI as part of their job I would strongly recommend that you speak to a decent broker. Policies can be very complicated and tend to be modular. The choices you make will determine what you can claim for. Premiums can be very expensive and are prone to large increases at renewal. There are different types of underwriting, which is best for you will depend on your medical history.
A good broker should be able to explain the options to you.

I have had two similar operations, one private and one NHS. The private one happened much quicker but I was under the same consultant for both (although due to him breaking his arm the second op was done by one of his colleagues) and he was as thorough both times. Just took way longer to see him second time around.

In terms of the actual operation going private means you get the bare minimum of staff as it’s all done to minimum cost as per insurer requirements. In my case just the consultant and the anaesthetist. Under the NHS you actually have a much larger than looking after you on the day of the op.

In-patient post op care as well actually, bar having a private room, I found the NHS much better. The private nurses and doctors were clearly more used to looking after boob jobs and tummy tucks than major post op surgery patients and didn’t get my pain plan right at all. Also if anything had happened to me they would not have noticed until they came to do their rounds. The food was better also but under the NHS I had a much better post op plan, saw way more many nurses more often and was generally supported far more.

You are booted out of private care much quicker too. The moment you’re mobile insurers want to stop paying so you’re invited to leave. On the NHS I left when I was more ready and able. Oh, and any post-op drugs when private are by private prescription so you have to pay for them. £240 for the injection I had to have daily for 30 days post op, free on the NHS

It’s interesting to note as well that private hospitals are not allowed to keep bloods on-site so when I was private they had a blood tank on stand by should I start severely bleeding to blue light the blood across town. They reckoned it would take 15-20 mins. My consultant was quite open that, given the complexity of the op, he may have decided to rent an NHS operating theatre and then have me transferred back to the private hospital post-op because if things went downhill for any reason private hospitals are not equipped for such incidents and you’re actually safer in an NHS facility.

So in summary, for more minor stuff private is good but for major ops, having gone both ways I’d take the NHS route any day. Private is quicker but not necessarily better care.

We have healthcare through work.
Doctor at hand has been really good as it gets you referred for stuff really fast.
I def recommend them for minor stuff (as that has been my experience) plus diagnostics and tests are going to be much faster than the nhs.
As said above I think anything major I would end up under nhs but for all the other stuff I am happy to not use nhs resources at the moment.

I had medical insurance through work, before I retired.

Used it a couple of times, but one occasion was the most memorable.

I went to my GP for referral on a Monday. I was getting excruciating pains in my neck/shoulder blade.

The following Thursday, I had an appointment with a consultant.

Friday, I had MRI scans

Monday, consultant phones me, and explains the findings and “do I want the operation” (C5/C6 disc removal and fusion) I say yes

Thursday, I’m in a Nuffield hospital getting the op.

Bill to the insurance company is over £9k (back in 1997) isn’t something I’d want to fork out for

So, 11 days from GP to operation is pretty damn quick

Back on the bike 2 months later

If you can’t get PMI through work as PP have said, how about something like Benenden, which is 11.50 a month, pays out about £1000 for initial consultant appt / diagnostics if you’re in pain and will be waiting on the NHS, and do some ops too? It’s cheaper because it’s NOT medical insurance but it might do the trick for plugging the holes between NHS and what you’re willing to go out-of-pocket for.
http://www.benenden.co.uk/health/healthcare