Private health insurance - talk to me
Discussion
Translated my wife's corporate cover to private when she took early retirement.
Using AXA PPP.
You can significantly reduced the cost if you restrict how many hospitals you can pick from.
Not used them since but used them for a back operation when she still had the corporate cover and had no complaints
Using AXA PPP.
You can significantly reduced the cost if you restrict how many hospitals you can pick from.
Not used them since but used them for a back operation when she still had the corporate cover and had no complaints
You get treated by the same NHS staff/doctor/surgeons you'd get for free if you weren't private. The main difference is your money sees you jump the waiting list queue and if you need to be admitted you might get a private room to yourself and a rib-eye for your tea instead of bangers and mash that all the NHS scrubs get.
Lemming Train said:
You get treated by the same NHS staff/doctor/surgeons you'd get for free if you weren't private. The main difference is your money sees you jump the waiting list queue and if you need to be admitted you might get a private room to yourself and a rib-eye for your tea instead of bangers and mash that all the NHS scrubs get.
You can access to treatments the NHS doesn't provide. It's not just about waiting times.What you get with private medical insurance (PMI) depends on the cover you buy, like most insurance products. You can get very comprehensive cover that will pay for just about any treatment required in just about any hospital or you can buy a restricted cover. Restrictions can include a limited choice of hospitals (if you can do without the main London hospitals it can make a BIG difference to the premium), limited or no out patient cover, no cover for certain conditions etc. Standard exclusions for most PMI include treatment for conditions you had before the cover started, cosmetic treatments, experimental treatments, chronic conditions (i.e. ongoing conditions for which there is no cure like diabetes)
The premiums tend not to be cheap but whether they are good value is a matter of opinion. Some medical treatments, including cancer, can cost tens of thousands a year so if you are unlucky enough to need to claim for one of those you would probably think you had good value. Equally, if you have a condition for which there is a long NHS list immediate private treatment can save a lot of pain and worry.
With PMI you will invariably get a private room, but that is less of a benefit nowadays as many newer NHS hospitals offer private rooms. Visiting times at private hospitals tend to be unlimited and the food and attention you get is generally an improvement over the NHS however, as another poster said, the treating doctors will probably be exactly the same as those you would have got treatment from under the NHS.
As you can probably tell, I’m in the industry so if you have any specific questions fire away and I’ll do my best to answer
The premiums tend not to be cheap but whether they are good value is a matter of opinion. Some medical treatments, including cancer, can cost tens of thousands a year so if you are unlucky enough to need to claim for one of those you would probably think you had good value. Equally, if you have a condition for which there is a long NHS list immediate private treatment can save a lot of pain and worry.
With PMI you will invariably get a private room, but that is less of a benefit nowadays as many newer NHS hospitals offer private rooms. Visiting times at private hospitals tend to be unlimited and the food and attention you get is generally an improvement over the NHS however, as another poster said, the treating doctors will probably be exactly the same as those you would have got treatment from under the NHS.
As you can probably tell, I’m in the industry so if you have any specific questions fire away and I’ll do my best to answer
Lemming Train said:
Mr Pointy said:
ou can access to treatments the NHS doesn't provide. It's not just about waiting times.
Well of course you can, seeing as you're paying for it, but that wasn't asked by the OP.Mr Pointy said:
Lemming Train said:
Anything you want as you're paying for it. The range of treatments is only limited by how much money you have.
Wrong, as usual. All PMI policies have limits & exclusions. If you want unlimited treatement it will be paid in cash outside of the insurance. KeithE said:
What you get with private medical insurance (PMI) depends on the cover you buy, like most insurance products. You can get very comprehensive cover that will pay for just about any treatment required in just about any hospital or you can buy a restricted cover.
Thanks Keith. Does anyone know of a good way to compare different insurers’ policies?I’ve seen that Moneysupermarket does comparisons, but it looks fairly superficial. Is there a better way of comparing private health insurers?
SVS said:
Thanks Keith. Does anyone know of a good way to compare different insurers’ policies?
I’ve seen that Moneysupermarket does comparisons, but it looks fairly superficial. Is there a better way of comparing private health insurers?
I use https://usaycompare.co.uk/I’ve seen that Moneysupermarket does comparisons, but it looks fairly superficial. Is there a better way of comparing private health insurers?
They will contact you at renewal to check if you are happy or not with the increase in premiums and offer, if available, a more competitive price with another provider.
My ex wife started cover at £120 a month which seemed reasonable. She was later diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and the treatment she received was amazing, including drugs that would not have been available on the NHS according to our GP.
5 years on and after a lot of aggressive therapy and operations and she's currently clear.
But, her monthly payments are now £900 and she is uninsurable by anyone else.
She has had to stop the insurance.
So it did her good for actually being ill but the premiums sky rocket.
5 years on and after a lot of aggressive therapy and operations and she's currently clear.
But, her monthly payments are now £900 and she is uninsurable by anyone else.
She has had to stop the insurance.
So it did her good for actually being ill but the premiums sky rocket.
Peter3442 said:
What's the advantage of insurance over paying yourself (obviously after putting money aside over the years)?
That's the same for any non compulsory insurance. What if you need treatment before you've had a change to put the money aside? What if the claim is so large it exceeds the money you have put aside.I think the usual comparison sights are as good as you’ll get. I haven’t looked recently at the comparison sights but I wouldn’t expect them to have any real detail. If you know what kind of cover you’re looking for I’d be inclined to look at some of the providers websites or give them a call and discuss. Only thing I would say, PMI is quite a specialist cover and some of the household names use the bigger providers like AXA and Bupa (who between them hold over 2/3rds of the market). Nothing wrong with that but it does mean that you have more people trying to take a profit from your premium.
For obvious reasons I don’t want to talk openly about who I am with but if you want to PM me I can be more open
For obvious reasons I don’t want to talk openly about who I am with but if you want to PM me I can be more open
I am 47 now but, i know when i looked into it when i was in my twenties it was bloody expensive ( i think about £50 a month then, so god knows what it would be now!), so decided it would be cheaper in the long run to just pay out private if and when i needed anything!
I paid for a private ultra sound scan in 2000, that cost about £200, and seen a couple of private consultants since (£120 each) which didn't need any further investigations/actions, so for me, it was just cheaper to pay out when i needed it!
I paid for a private ultra sound scan in 2000, that cost about £200, and seen a couple of private consultants since (£120 each) which didn't need any further investigations/actions, so for me, it was just cheaper to pay out when i needed it!
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