Does anyone have BUPA or similar? Is it any good?

[MrsTumbletap]

Thinking of getting it so if I or my DH and DS were to ever find something suspicious we could get a quick diagnosis.

Does any of you have BUPA or similar? Have you used it? Is it good?

We have had private healthcare through DHs work for years had has always been brilliant. We've all used it, added ds when he was born and used for him twice in three years.

Bupa has been AMAZING for us and we would never ever ever be without it now- we get it through DW's work and any future jobs would have to include it too.

In the last two years they have covered over £200,000 for my mental health. No joke. Two lengthy Priory stays.

Also went from stomach pain - MRI - removal of very infected gallbladder within two weeks.

Also, should have said- we have Bupa Premium- doesn't increase with claims, no limit on mental health cover, £100 a year excess.

We get BUPA through DH's work. They pay for the top level package and have a dedicated phone line for his company's scheme participants. As said above if you get an NHS referral for a particular consultant that's months away, you can go to BUPA and see them within a few days via them. And it is the consultant in person and not one of their team. They feed back to your GP so nothing gets lost.

We didn't use it for years and then had a run of ill health with various family members (including mental health) in the last 18 months and it has been fantastic.

I know that they offer different levels of cover, so be sure that you are getting what you are expecting.

I have BUPA as a work benefit and had a potential skin cancer removed last year. Do it. The speed you get seen and the hospitals and facilities are so much better. It was the first time I'd used it in seven years but it gave me peace of mind and I had a resolution in a month. An appointment time is your appointment time, not a clinic that twenty people turn up to with extended waits. You get a personal service. It gives you options.

My whole family is insured with AXA. We have zero excess and the highest level of cover, which allows us to see any consultant not on the fee-approved list and private GPs. We pay £700/mth or thereabouts for my parents (in their 60s), 4 adults (30s-40s) and 3 kids. DF had a horrendous time on the NHS after an op, and we didn’t want any family member to go through that again. I recently had full investigations for hormonal issues (including bone scan, very detailed bloods, smear, internal scans). I basically had a full health check up in a couple of days. It was great. The downside is that if you want a top consultant in London, you could be waiting 4-5 weeks for an appointment. AXA have been shit to deal with and I’ve let them know. They didn’t increase our premium this year to retain our business. Speak to a health insurance broker who will be able to provide you with detailed comparisons from a range of providers. Brokers can also negotiate better premiums. Ours has been great.

QOD - what is a cpme basis please? When they took me on, I had no pre existing medical conditions and in fact they said any wouldn't affect my premium as I has been with them so long via my ex's work scheme.

I think it's time to get some new quotes. Someone mentioned a health insurance broker. I have never heard of them but will investigate now as my premium is too expensive when I don't even use it.

@LesLavandes Continued personal medical exclusions or a switch or continuation means covering you for any and all previous conditions. Company plans are usually what they call MHD or medical history disregarded which means you can join knowing you need a knee op and it’s covered. Individual or family plans etc are mostly about new problems you’ve not had symptoms of or any awareness of in the 3 to 5 years prior to joining (bupa normally makes you list all your medical history right back and excludes recent or recurring things)
I will pm you the name of a broker I think is honest and reliable (not me I swear 😂).

I do wonder though after speaking to BUPA, AXA and beneden health if god forbid we need a quick diagnosis or to see a consultant if there were fears of cancer you could pay for the consultant fee (£285 in our local private) and be diagnosed very quickly and then begin NHS treatment.

Why pay £100 a month for years?
Also the fact that it increases every year is worrying.

If you have chronic health issues it's great if you or partner can get private health care through work - I've frequently hit the max annual payout for physio in a year was 3k between us with one insurer, then DH's work got less generous and his new employer only just started doing insurance, so I've hit my 300£ physio limit until January.

DH pays the extra for Denplan but I have better teeth and an excellent NHS dentist so just pay up as needed.

We have vitality with DH work, we pay £98 a month for myself and DS to be added to his policy. Worth every penny.

I have a basic BUPA policy through work and think it is great, I have used it a lot.

I could pay extra to upgrade to a policy that gives me higher limits (I have bust my ‘outpatients’ allowance in the past and access to more expensive consultants but I choose not to. I have paid extra myself and figure the amount I pay is less than the upgrade. I might upgrade in a couple of years when I anticipate an expensive op will be needed.

I hope I will be able to afford it when I retire or are made redundant but am not sure.

My DH and I are covered with BUPA through his work. We contribute about £250 a month and the company about £300. That includes private maternity which has been amazing.

GP appointments when you want them. Easier access to specialists.

I have BUPA through work. It was a godsend a couple of years ago when I had a health problem my GP couldn't diagnose (I watched her Google my symptoms and frown at the screen) and I was bounced between the hospital and doctor's surgery. I finally got a private consultation via BUPA, MRI and issue swiftly identified.

I do wonder though after speaking to BUPA, AXA and beneden health if god forbid we need a quick diagnosis or to see a consultant if there were fears of cancer you could pay for the consultant fee (£285 in our local private) and be diagnosed very quickly and then begin NHS treatment.

But it wouldn't be just £285 for the consultation - you would have a whole raft of diagnostic tests, from £25 blood tests to £500 MRI + contrast scans - you might not see a lot of change from £1000. To be fair to the NHS - anything that triggers the possible cancer diagnosis, eg breast lump, has to be seen within 2 weeks.

I have Bupa cash plan with work which is brilliant, it reimburses for all prescriptions, glasses (upto £200), dental appointments and includes chiropractors and podiatry.
I also have Aviva private medical with work which I've thankfully not had to use but I'll be grateful when I do.

as @DPotter said, it's not just the consultation but all the scans, blood tests, etc. And they are done straight away. It wouldn't just be the consultation fee.

On my plan, the first consultation, ultrasounds, several diagnostic tests, bloods, etc and follow up consultation fee to discuss results are covered automatically. For my MRI I had to get a separate authorisation but that was given straight away via a quick phone call.

Yes the NHS have been brilliant for cancer in my family. But they aren't great for other issues.

I think like all insurance, you don't want to have to claim on it, but when you need it you are glad it's there.

@DPotter so in that example where you don't get change for a £1000 you could in theory just pay the £1000 and then start NHS treatment couldnt you?

Where as if I get private healthcare and pay £100 a month for a year = £1200. Then do it for 5 years = £6500

It would be cheaper to pay when needed wouldn't it? I think I'm missing the benefit of paying every month.

where you don't get change for a £1000 you could in theory just pay the £1000 and then start NHS treatment couldnt you?

well yes and no but and it's a BIG BUT - you may pay £1000 and still not get your diagnosis or even with your diagnosis would not be able to afford the private treatment and so would need to go back to the NHS. In my area, GPs and Consultants will start the NHS referral process all over again, so you might be a little wiser as to your condition but still unable to access treatment any quicker.

It's important to bear in mind that private medical insurance (PMI) in the UK has grown up alongside the NHS, and it can't survive without the NHS. PMI is a bet - a bet that if you become ill, the private sector can see, treat and provide follow-up care quicker and just as safely as the NHS. Buying PMI as an individual is more costly and more restrictive than through an employer, eg it will not cover pre-existing conditions, GP care, fertility, maternity and will have restrictions on outpatient care. It's also worth bearing in mind that the vast majority of private hospitals will not admit / operate on children ) they simply can't get the registered childrens' nurses), so you could argue that PMI for children is not worth it, but there are lots of conditions which are treatable on an outpatient basis.

PMI is expensive as an individual, it's known in the trade as 'an aspirational product'. Personally I would say, if you can get PMI through your employer or trade union (don't laugh some of the do this - used to work in PMI) it's possibly worth it.

Husband had health insurance that was subsidised but not free from his work. Three years ago they put up the premium to a massive amount and we decided to let it go. Two years ago I found a lump....it was cancer. The NHS. were and are amazing. I was in the same radiotherapy facility that they send private patients too ( only difference is the private patients had a really boring waiting room with no knitting, jigsaw, or fish tank! The wait times were the same. The only difference is that I had day surgery and there were long, very long delays for two of my surgeries and I think in private I would have had my slot and poss been kept in overnight.

My parents were/are avid BUPA people. My father was an NHS Dr for years. He had some bladder surgery privately. The surgeon pierced his bladder. It caused the cancer to escape and Pa died from secondaries two years later. That Dr us now being prosecuted by many ex patients both NHS and private. So the consultants are not necessarily 'better' because they are private but are the same as NHS. What you are paying for is being seen on time, longer appointments, perhaps more choice in treatment and quicker waiting times for 'lesser for them but not to me' conditions. Some cancers like breast cancer are dealt with brilliantly by the NHS. Other, more obscure ones, I'm not so sure. Be aware as to where the private hospitals to you are so the private cancer centre to us is over an hour drive whereas our NHs hospitals are 10 mins away. When you are poorly, that is worth a few hundred quid in itself.

I work for bupa insurance. I won't say in which capacity, but if you have any questions, fire away.

I don’t understand how the whole private medical care thing works.

I’m healthy but there is a particular blood test I would like to have but would need to wait at least a month to have it at my local surgery. What are my options for getting that quicker privately?

Sorry to jump on this post.

You can call your local private hospital and ask them how much they'd charge. Be aware that blood tests can be very expensive if they're testing for a few things.

I have mixed feelings. We used to have full family cover but as dh is self employed there were no company scheme discounts or not substantial ones anyway. I now have cover theough work - subsidized. The dc's premiums pretty much tripled when they hit 18.

I have cystic breast disease and that was fantastic with annual checkups and the consultant did the aspirations, always using a freezing spray. I once had a cancer check on the NHS - no freezing spray for the aspiration and it hurt like hell, disorganised clinic where women were treated like cattle, and I was there for 7 hours due to poor organisation. Had a colonoscopy last year and consultant care on BUPA was brilliant but the nursing care was hit and miss.

DD has had MH problems and had she been admitted all would have been paid. All psychiatry was paid but there was a limit on therapy of £500 which wasn't nearly enough. All psychiatry consultations were covered until DD was diagnosed with ADHD, diagnostics forbwhichbwe had tonpay. The policy didn't cover neuro developmental disability and consultations thereafter were not covered because the root cause of the anxiety and depression was the ADHD. However, BUPA helped hugely with identifying a psychiatrist and therapists which both our GP and CAMHS refused to do.

The real issue I had was when dd was diagnosed with a septate hymen which BUPA classed as skin removal and chronic rather than acute and refused to pay despite the fact that thisbwould have prevented dd from leading a normal lifenor being able to have essential diagnostic tests such as cervical smears. They simply would not budge so I paid the £2,200 and follow up consultation. That I felt was pretty shoddy and down to small print to avoid paying for things like tummy tucks post bariatric surgery.

All in all a mixed bag and with all the small print, and fact that our combined premiums hit about £6k per annum I am minded to say one needs to be selective and it's probably worth setting aside the premiums and self paying where the NHS doesn't deliver adequate care.

More importantly I think the people who have cover are those who can articulate the inadequacies of the NHS most effectively and it is a shame so many feel they must be grateful for sub optimal care by virtue of having no choice.

Private care exists for significant reasons and it is those reasons that need to be dealt with. Roll on a European style healthcare system.

We’re covered through AXA via my work. We’re currently going through it to get a consultation on something for one of the kids- has been brilliant, they were super helpful, thorough private GP appointment via Skype within an hour requesting something and the referral goes straight through. By the end of that day they had called to say it was approved and they’ll send over the list of specialists to choose from and make an appointment. Meanwhile we’d still be waiting for our initial NHS GP appointment to roll around. Everything is available through their online portal. We had Bupa (then Healix) through my previous company but never needed to use them so can’t comment on their effectiveness but heard good things through colleagues about BUPA (don’t know anyone who’d used healix).