To be terrified that private health insurance will become unaffordable

I had surgery using private health insurance once and it was so awful I swore never ever again would I use the private sector, unless there was an amazingly compelling reason. I ended up with a wound that broke open, a consultant who objected to me not waiting till the next working day to notify the hospital of that and therefore refusing to see me, and ultimately I ended up literally collapsing in my GP's surgery because I was losing so much blood my life was in danger.

There is nothing like the redress available to private patients that there is to NHS (and NHS patients find it hard enough) and really all your money gets is a nicer room and better food. So I suppose it depends why you need the health insurance so much and it's so important to you?

I've never felt I needed private healthcare.

I've had niggles around admin and organisational stuff but I've always been able to get a GP appointment, been seen in urgent care, had emergency surgery and had cancer investigations twice.
When me or my family have needed the NHS, we've got what we needed.

The only time I think I'd pay privately is for MH support if needed because I know what the current provision is and its limitations.

But it doesn’t alleviate pressure on the NHS. It’s the same doctors that work privately as work for the NHS. All the private system does is allow people to skip the queue. Meanwhile the waiting lists grow for NHS patients.

I've been private a few times lately and the NHS appointments came through and were only like a week of not less after the private ones. Only reason I chose the private over it was because of the surroundings as this hospital is just a nicer place to be for the things I'm having done. It was heartening to see the NHS took it seriously and moved quickly too

This seems an extreme reaction to have.

Are you having treatment for anxiety? It might be a good idea to make the most of having insurance and get counselling/treatment for it now.

I get private health through work so not sure what it costs but I've only ever used it for dental and opticians. If I had to pay myself, I wouldn't have it.
I'm lucky to live in an area where the nhs services are excellent but appreciate it's a postcode lottery and I have had no major health needs.
If you were ever in an emergency situation, it would be the nhs that would likely treat you, so I'm not sure paying almost £100 per month is worth it.

Well, I grew up in the US where we have shit tons of private insurance. I was in my 20s (20 years ago!) paying $600 a month and then I lost my job and insurance just at exactly the same moment as I had a cancer scare and needed a biopsy. The biopsy alone was $2000 and I couldn’t afford it. I had to wait 2 years to get insurance again because no national healthcare system to fall back on.

My mum with very expensive private insurance had to wait 3 months to start chemo when she had cancer because of the pre-authorisation (someone needed to approve it).. In the Uk, on the NHS, in 3 months since I’ve been referred on the 2 week pathway, I’ve had 2 operations, going in for my 3rd, and starting treatment this month. Much quicker than private. It took 2 weeks from them recommending treatment to me being seen in oncology to start.

Private health insurance is a luxury, a great extra if you can afford it, but doesn’t provide an advantage all the time. Like private school, if you want it, you have to be able to pay for it. But you are still very lucky that there is an excellent healthcare system to fall back on (which you’d be referred to anyway for most of the big stuff).

Can you take a bigger excess and get any frills taken off? That seems a very high premium. I am not in the UK but when my son was suddenly taken ill, he was rushed into a public hospital. They coincidentally found a very early cancer which they weren't looking for and we had to stay public for treatment though I have to say our public system is nowhere near as bad as the NHS. (He's fine now and that was 7 years ago.)

I am pretty sure I pay about that much in tax monthly for my work benefit of private healthcare! Maybe I'm being ripped off!!

Take a look at Benenden Healthcare, I've had it for years. I pay around £16 a month and if the NHS wait times are longer than 6 weeks, you can go private.

I had a hysterectomy within 5 weeks of seeing a consultant in a Spire hospital. On the NHS I'd have waited over two years.

If it goes up by £30 a year, chances are wages will have increased too.
Your DD doesn't really need it as she's young and less likely to get sick.

Private health insurance won't help if you have a real emergency that requires a 999 call. You'll still need to 'slum it' with the NHS. (I still think the NHS are great by the way. World class in many areas.)

the NHS just is not there to use though half of the time and treatment not available. I hazard a guess you never needed urgent care but couldn't get it or had to leave work as you got so unwell whilst being stuck on waiting lists? Its very easy to say 'use the NHS' if you don't have any health conditions that need treatment and you get on with the odd GP visit. But that isn't the case for many.

That's a lot for a 20 year old. I pay for Bupa full cover got myself and one dc (through my company). We pay £75 a month for both of us.

Why are you "terrified"? Does your daughter has some sort of chronic illness?

You have the NHS, that is your existing health insurance you pay through your taxes.

It’s not perfect, but there’s very little your private health insurance will get you above and beyond the NHS other than quicker appointments. And better catering.

Former nurse and NHS manager here. Honestly, anything that is likely to be seriously wrong with a 20 year old is not going to be the sort of thing that a private hospital will cope well with. They're good for joint replacements, cataracts and hernias. You wouldn't want to be in one with appendicitis, an ectopic pregnancy or a significant infection. In fact they wouldn't admit her for those things and would just ship her out to the NHS.

You'd be better off saving up your premiums to build up a fund to dip into to expedite tests and appointments.

Private health care has a place but it doesn't come into its own until later on in life.

good on you for paying for it yourself and help alleviate the pressure on the NHS. More people should be doing this or forced to do this in my opinion to reduce NHS pressure and shift waiting list onto the private sector.

If you’re under 16, pregnant or over 40 and under 70 yes the NHS is very good. But for young people in their 20s private healthcare can literally save lives as the NHS can be very useless for them

We've just taken dd off our policy as she is rarely even sees gp. But our quote for her was only £35 ish. £97 is huge. Ours in late 50s with health issues was not much more than your quote each.

Just pay private when or if you need to and save the premiums to cover it. Anything really bad will end up with the NHS anyway.

Not many 20-year-olds have private health cover unless they are getting it through work or a parent's work policy. Presumably there is a particular reason why you need this for your daughter? Otherwise, as others have said I would just save the money, or as much of it as you can afford, each month to cover any medical bills. The amount you are paying is also high for a 20 year old which makes me think that she must have some ongoing conditions. Unfortunately in that case you can only expect it to increase each year if you are making a lot of claims. What is the excess on the policy currently?

Well the vast majority of the UK population don’t have it either. Just look after your health 🤷‍♀️ The NHS has always been there for me when I needed it and has saved the lives of multiple family members.

How often do you claim? If not very often then just save the £100 for her per month. Private hospitals often give massive discounts to people who pay for scans without insurance. Eg my cardiology consultant appointments cost £250 a time via Bupa but only £60 when I paid privately.

Omg are people actually paying for this themselves?

The only people i know who have & use private have it through their employer as a perk.

Ive got cover this way and there's only a handful of things its worth using for. If you are seriously ill/need emergency care its no match for the NHS.