Private Health Insurance

We are doing our best to maintain health insurance, as local NHS hospitals leave a great deal to be desired in the way of cleanliness and infection rates. Agree with SHW, the lack of sleep, other patients constantly chatting on their phone and other noise levels, lack of privacy, shortage of both doctors and nurses, inedible cold food, mixed wards and filthy toilets and ward floors mean we will try to avoid admission on NHS for as long as we possible can.

Another ✅for Benenden from me, they paid for my Gall Bladder surgery a few years ago. I am extremely grateful to them for the financial assistance they give for a cancer diagnosis, they allow an amount of up to £1500 over 12 months to help with the costs associated with travel and parking for attending appointments, buying prosthetics/required clothing items, and, even paid for a recuperative break of up to 4 days (we picked the hotel and location) and the travel costs for the break. I must admit, I was well into my treatment before I realised this was available and it was only because the renewal came that I noticed it, so I wasn’t able to utilize it for my lengthy travel for radiotherapy, but it has certainly been very useful for the break away and other needs.

sarahellenwhitney when I had cancer surgery and treatment, so a number of stays plus one long stay in an NHS hospital it was very good. I appreciate sometimes it's a postcode lottery. I had my own pull down tv. The meals were fantastic. Really, really good. There was a bathroom (4 beds per ward and on a subsequent stay I had my own room with private bathroom) plus, a wet room. A lovely visitors room and the nurses were second to none.

Thank you for all your thoughts, I have done a bit of looking into it and it will be around £200 a month for me and DH which is what I thought it would be, I will have a look into Benenden though. I do agree that the NHS is great, my daughter was in hospital recently with another stay scheduled at a later date and, apart from a couple of small blips, she was looked after wonderfully. The thing I would really like private cover for is to have my own room and privacy, my daughter got so little sleep due to the noise at night, which is totally expected but doesn't help recovery, the bathroom was shared between four and wasn't overly clean as the toilet didn't flush properly and also there was a period when there was no hot water, again none of which helps a recovery.

sorry, got disturbed, I also had my mobile phone I could use any time I wanted and could charge. During the several stays I had in two private hospitals (one for a hysterectomy) I was still woken up to have blood pressure taken and drugs given and so on. So couldn't sleep as long as I wanted. Although I do agree, in a ward with more than one bed you are more likely to be woken in the night and don't have as much privacy. At what cost though. There's the rub. If you have more money than you can shake a stick at, then of course, unless you are rushed into NHS A&E, pay for the comforts. If you find it difficult to find those funds then my advice still stands. NHS is better for major stuff, and maybe have a savings account for the smaller stuff, unless you can find a company that provides it for virtually nothing. Which I find hard to believe. If it's too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true.

Just to add to what Sarah said, monthly savings accounts give higher rates of interest than other savings account.

When we retired we looked into continuing our PMI but decided it was too expensive if existing conditions were included and maybe not so important if not included.

You can get policies which cover only cancer which could be a half way solution.

We asked our GP what he would do in our circumstances and he thought it would be a waste of money. I have had two health scares and didn't want to wait so paid for both privately. It cost far less than we would have paid out in premiums.

My experience is that private hospitals have a set period of time for each procedure which doesn't allow for individual needs or complications. When my gall bladder was removed I originally was booked into NHS and was going to be in for 11 days. I then decided to use PMI, went into the same hospital and was operated on by the same surgeon. I didn't have to go in the day before as I would with the NHS and I was out in 8 days. That was some years ago.

Yes, they are more comfortable and you get your own room.

I think you have to do your research on price and cover and think about how likely it is that it would be good value for you.

You could ask your existing company how much to continue, they may surprise you by not being too expensive. I did this when I left a job that provided it for me. You could also try a sort of brokerage such such as healthonline who halved my recent vey expensive premiums. Just google them.

Private health insurance is like pet insurance really, just as you start to need it as an older person (or older pet), it starts to get prohibitively expensive. We self fund on both, so if we don't need it, we haven't spent the money. Our cat needed extensive surgery after a car hit him, and the £900 it cost is still less than 12 years on insurance premiums.

Also independent hospitals do not have A&E departments.

I have nothing good to say about the NHS but I can say that when my DH had an OP years ago privately he had the very same surgeon that he had 5 years later for the very same op. The only difference was a private room and a better menu.

I volunteer at the local NHS hospital and the question of private rooms is an interesting one. Most of the wards I work on have four or six beds per side ward sharing a bathroom, plus individual rooms with their own en suite. A surprising number of people in individual rooms wish they were in the shared wards, which really surprised me when I first started asking. Although there is more noise and disturbance on the shared wards, its also more entertaining and patients are remarkably supportive of each other. Often quite a 'Dunkirk spirit' seems to develop and there is plenty of joking and helpful chats from fellow patients on a shared ward, whereas people in individual rooms can feel quite isolated. For those on this thread who fear the NHS shared ward I can vouch for the fact that there are some unseen advantages.

We were insured by Simply Health which was getting incredibly expensive as we get older. Thankfully they have been taken over by Axia and although the fees started at the same rate as Simply Health they have steadily declined over the past few years as we haven't needed to use it. In addition when you sign up you can agree to pay an excess amount of your choice which keeps premiums down. Once paid that excess will last the whole year (handy if you need treatment for different complaints). I have found them very good and my local private hospital is excellent. The main bonus is, of course, no waiting times, treatment by a consultant, comfortable private room and consultations at a time that suits you.

Hi, I was in the same position. 1 kept it going for 1 year but the expenses was prohibitive. We now put the equivalent to 50% of the payments in an account each month, and label it our “hip replacement fund” it’s amazing how it mounts and it’s there to help for non urgent surgery where you would have to wait, not the serious stuff.

My workplace used to offer Simply Health cover and has now moved to Benenden, presumably to save on costs. I haven't used it to get a quicker consultation but just the savings on dental treatment and glasses make it worthwhile for me as I only pay tax on the premium my employer pays. I'm trying to decide if I should continue cover when I retire - probably will as the last time I saw an optician I was told I had a cataract in the early stages of developing so may be glad of the cover in the future. Seems to be lots of gransnetters recommending Benenden so another reason to stay with them I guess.

Haven't read all the responses, but why oh why would anyone pay for private health insurance when we have the best NHS in the world ?

Each year I tell myself we won’t renew our BUPA insurance but we do. Having had a few health problems, we now pay almost £6.500 annually - and still have an excess of £250 plus an initial consultation fee (usually c£250) on top.

The insurance has been useful but by no means perfect: a drain pulled out whilst still stitched in and a nurse on night duty who arrived red-faced, hair awry and quite cross (I am sure she had been asleep!) are two examples where treatment should have been better. Nurses are often ‘pool’ nurses taking an extra shift or two so may not be familiar with systems etc.

Appointments to see a consultant can still take weeks to a arrange and tests a similar length, too.

Having had surgery privately, the great food promoted is a red herring (‘scuse the pun) as one is too unwell to actually eat it.

OP, your health may be such that private insurance will cost you less but we are considering stopping our insurance and putting the money into an account whereby we can buy our own medical care if the need arises.

I am currently having tests on the NHS and have found the process excellent (except for the clerical follow-up which is slow. Too many patients?!). I have nothing but praise for the staff in my local hospital (most of them are not indigenous, so what will happen post-Brexit? I can’t see how the hospital could run, but that’s another story).

Good luck with your decision.

Friend is now well over 80 and has always had health insurance . She cannot bear to stop it but the premiums anre so high .

Haven't read all the responses, but why oh why would anyone pay for private health insurance when we have the best NHS in the world ?

No need at all, if you have Benenden as back up.

Yes like Blinko and silverlining, I’d recommend looking at Benenden too.

My mother paid out to BUPA from when father died aged 62 to when she saw the light aged about 85. She had by then been taken by ambulance from home to NHS hospital many times following falls and breaks. She was well treated but it was constantly on her mind that she was paying into BUPA all the time and was getting instead a ward of up to 8 people who would keep her awake and get on her nerves during the day.

I discovered how hard that can be when I spent two weeks in a ward with one poor, nearly blind, lady who called out “Nurse, nurse” whenever she was awake, day and night, completely ignored by all the nurses.

On just one occasion Mother was in a truly dreadful 12 bed ward where she wasn’t given an opportunity to brush, or have her teeth brushed for four days and stayed in soiled clothing until I arrived to get her changed. She hadn’t been compos mentis enough to tell me about the teeth. I tried all ends up to get her transferred to private care but the consultant who was needed to sort out her discharge was never available when I was there and had never done it when I asked. I had to drive a 140 mile round trip each evening after work to make sure she was being kept clean and well treated.

I never nagged my mother to stop paying out to BUPA because I knew she could afford it and she felt she would be going against Father’s wishes if she did (he had been dead then for over 20 years). She worked it out for herself in the end that it was a waste of money as she was always going to end up in NHS care.

I'm still paying my enormously inflated BUPA, but will have to ditch it this year. Having ankle replacement surgery next month, and kept it on because of that - a private room, peace and quiet, and nice food after the trauma of major surgery is well worth it. I've also had a couple of worrying and traumatic experiences on the NHS, unfortunately.

All I can say is that my BUPA private insurance saved my life! Had it since my first job at 22 year old (£20 at that time). Kept it up even with changing jobs, etc. Didn't even know exactly what was covered, etc. Never spend time in hospital besides giving birth. Until 6 years ago. Had sudden excruciating pains in my stomach. GP suggested I use my PHI because it would be up to 10 days wait on NHS for ultrasound. Got app at our local BUPA hospital same afternoon. Turns out I had grade 3/4 ovarian cancer. Since then, I've had latest treatment, best surgeons, no waiting, great care - all approved by BUPA! Still going on a new meds now that would've been unavailable through the NHS. Hours of waiting at A&E, burst veins (unusable anymore), antibiotic drip not properly attached, lack of hygiene and being left for hours and hours on end (NHS). Last time I discharged myself of the last call NHS hell and would not go back there, regardless of emergency (my family are aware). So I'd personally say, keep the insurance even if you have to eat baked beans now and then ?

I am with BUPA in South Australia and we are also being priced out with ever increasing fees. I had to have emergency surgery a couple of months back and, being taken by ambulance to the public hospital, was treated as a public patient under our government's Medicare. I cannot fault the care I was given but still am a bit afraid to stop my health cover. Each time the premium is increased I say "this is the last time I'm keeping it".

Private insurance doesn't get you BETTER treatment, it just lets you schedule it conveniently. Does this matter so much when you're no longer in a high-powered job?

Stormy Sunshine,

Hope all is well with you now.

My experience was similar. I was so ill, called the emergency number and was in an NHS hospital within 12 hours, pumped full of antibiotics and pain killers and discharged three days later as, I presume, it was New Year's Eve and the entire ward was being emptied

After discharge, I went down rapidly and a friend took charge and had me admitted to a private hospital - thanks to BUPA. I said farewell to a significant part of my colon but was told that had it ruptured, which was likely within days, I probably would have died.

I think the NHS, in some areas, is so understaffed that things get missed. I pay tribute to those working under such stress and nurses are, rightly, called angels, They work tirelessly under difficult conditions.

Now that I am widowed and retired, I am constantly reviewing my BUPA membership as it has become so expensive but, perhaps, like you, I will have to get used to eating baked beans!

I shall consider opting out and putting the money into a savings account but I think I should have done this years ago!