Private Health Insurance

We had private medical insurance when DH worked and only once did we use it when I had my gall bladder removed. I was in a private hospital and apart from the food I would have had better treatment on the NHS.

I have recently been diagnosed with cancer and the NHS has been amazing.

Another thing you have to watch is that a new medical insurance policy will not cover any pre-existing conditions.

My father and father in law both dropped out of their private health insurance not long after they retired because it was too expensive and didn't cover existing conditions.
The NHS is still second to none for serious conditions. Its probably more cost effective to pay for the occasional private diagnosis or hip replacement (ouch) than to continue paying into a policy.

Perhaps you could arrange to pay to keep the same scheme, so that your previous conditions are still covered?

Though saying that, one of my family kept up his private health insurance, at great expense, when he retired as he knew he would need both hips replacing, having had one done early, while he was still working. As it happens, he later had both ops in the same year, one under the private scheme, the other had to be done on the NHS, as it was the more complex replacement of the earlier replacement. The NHS op was the best experience of the three and included regular physiotherapy at home, which the insurance wouldn’t have covered.

I think you are better off saving your money. Use it when you want a second opinion on an NHS diagnosis or suggested course of treatment that you are not sure about.

We were the same....my husband's employer paid for health insurance but we decided to pay privately as he has undergoing major surgery. What we have found is that you can shop around and get vastly different prices, and also regarding pre-existing conditions, they mostly do cover them but after a certain time period has elapsed (in our experience anyway). We recently renewed and the quote we had was ridiculously more expensive than before; when we challenged the company, they re-quoted and the amount was pretty much the same - just goes to show what they can do when they try!

Ours is with AXA PPP by the way, but organised via Saga

I had private health care paid by my employer until I retired 15 years ago. I continued with the cover for DH and self we are with BUPA. Wish I had saved our monthly premiums in a separate account instead in case we needed an operation or
similar. We pay the initial consultant fee (£200) when we need to see someone with our plan.

I stopped paying for health insurance when I retired. I have saved £18000. I pay as I go now and have paid approximately £2000 on private medicine in that time. I get interest free credit too, so a big win for me.

You put it in a nutshell, grannytotwins ...
If you were living abroad, Gerry86, where there is no NHS then private health insurance would be worthwhile (I lived in Greece for many years so know this to be the case) but here you would be better to pay any proposed premium into a savings account as Glenfinnan wished she had done.
Wise words from the grannies here ... the NHS is indeed second to none!

Use a broker who will not charge but give you all the options.. one I used is chase tempelton who I think have anew name ,,look them up. It’s exoensive depending on your medical health / circumstances

I had private medical insurance with Aviva and it cost me about £90 a month, but I also opted to pay £1000 excess should it be necessary. After a year I had a gallbladder op and hernia repair at the same time and paid the surgeon £500 and the anaesthetist £500. My friend who had her gallbladder problem diagnosed a year earlier was still waiting in an NHS queue over a year later. I had a lovely room with its own shower room and tasty meals served in my room, and stayed 2 nights. It was like a posh hotel. My friend was sent home a few hours after her op. I now have Vitality private health care and it is just over £60 a month. I don't mind paying as although pre-existing problems are covered I took it out as I have heard of long waiting lists for NHS care for cancer and heart problems. I have many family members working for the NHS and so did I. It is a great organisation but it is overstretched now.

I still have private health insurance, but am gradually getting priced out of it. This will be my last year, I think, and then it will be a combination of self funding and the nhs.

It’s worth bearing in mind that if you currently have cover, without exclusions, it will be easier (at a price) to keep the same level of cover if you switch before your existing cover expires. It’s possible too, the provider that you are with as part of your company policy will “take you on”.

By the way I am 77 and when I took out the Aviva cover I was only 73 and it was still more expensive than my new cover with Vitality, I don't have shares in Vitality!

Another who had to give it up over 10 years ago on retirement. Out of the question on a pension.

Benenden. £10 a month. They pick up when the nhs can't deliver in a reasonable timescale. Non urgent cases only, but I've found them very useful. So far, I've had cataract surgery, MRI scans, gall ladder removal, and other stuff over the years. You can Google them.

I have just given up my Private Medical Insurance because it was getting so expensive. I am putting the £200 into a savings account, at least it will pay for a private consultation with a chosen consultant.

I have BUPA which my DH pays but it will be quite soon that we have to stop if I think! He pays £400+ per month but our insurance broker (Regency Health - Brian Walters) negotiated the first three months free which was great. I had a new hip last April, new hips are about £10,000 depending on area so we are probably about breaking even at present. I can see us stopping it soon though, even though t'other hip will need to be done before too long!

When my husband retired and we were no longer covered by his company health insurance we took out a policy with National Friendly (I think they may have changed their name now). This policy was part health cover, part savings policy. If you made a claim, part came from insurance cover and part from savings but if you didn't, the savings built up. Not sure if they would offer the same deal now.

We both used it a few times over the years for minor things but still built up quite a nice cash sum. We cashed it in recently for the following reasons:

Major health problems are dealt with far better on the NHS. I was unable to use my private insurance anyway when I had cancer, as the NHS hospital couldn't (quite rightly) split my treatment for part private care as it would've been an administrative nightmare. My insurance company wouldn't cough up for reconstructive work that I had to have (one of my operations was part cancer removal, part reconstruction).

I had a string of awful private consultations with clapped out semi retired behind the times consultants. One where my results were sitting in a cubby hole for more than a week. No one thought to tell me they were back.

We could afford now to pay for anything minor if there was a lengthy waiting list and most minor things do not involve lengthy stays in hospital anyway, thereby negating the need for a comfy private room.

All of the times I have been into a private hospital, I've been too ill or not allowed to partake of the wonderful menu/wine list!! And too groggy to know where I was anyway.

So weighing all of that up, we decided it wasn't worth it for the cover provided.

They won't cover existing health problems anyway, so I would put the money you would've forked out for insurance into a savings account for anything minor. Anything major is dealt with more expertly on the NHS in my opinion.

Slightly off subject, we've done the same for one of our dogs. The insurance premiums (reasonable to being with) were ridiculously high for him because of his age (when you may need it most! Not stupid insurance companies are they.). So we cancelled it and have put the amount we were paying into a savings account letting it build up to offset anything he may need. The annual premiums were so high they were going to cost almost as much as his cover! Crazy.

Have private health care and have often considered whether it would be better to just opt out, save subs and pay if and when needed but after a few health probs for DH over the last couple of years and seeing just some of the bills for that I know it's proved cost effective. That's, of course, on top of the private hospital room and all of the other benefits.

Would agree with blinco. We have been with Benenden many years, they are excellent. It’s not private but a charity which started out in the 19 th century as a sanitarium for post office workers with TB. Then later moved onto local authority employees and now open to all. For anyone especially living in the southeast the hospital is second to none.
Check the website.

On r-reading my first post I noticed I implied that Vitality cover pre-existing conditions. I am sorry, but they don't. My apologies.

I also have Beneden, they provide an alternative to private cover, it is just over £10 a month and I think it is better than nothing. You have to apply if you want to claim and they NHS waiting lists are too long. I have not used them as yet, but I do find it reassuring to have something. Info available on the web. I did have private cover but as time went by the costs became too high.

Just a suggestion but now you are no longer covered by your employers private health care scheme I would recommend opening a personal savings account where once a month you can save what ever sum you want
This could be your' insurance' for 'non urgent' medical issues which are usually hip or knee replacements? even cosmetic surgery. The interest rate on these accounts is usually far better if you don't want to dip into it for every day needs.
Most orthopaedic issues usually build up over a period of time, unless you have an accident where you would. obviously, get immediate NHS treatment. So by the time you feel the need to replace your worn out parts you will be in charge and have the funds to say, when and where no ifs or buts, you want your replacement/s to take place.

Breeze.
Surely having your own private bedroom ( bathroom attached ) where you can sleep as long as you like undisturbed by others, who may due to their own discomforts need twenty four hour attention , where you can watch your own tv day and night if you feel like it, use your phone whenever, a hot drink will be brought to you if requested when you can't sleep, has to be worth more than missing a few hours of chef prepared food and wine ?