Private medical insurance

[Orangesandlemons77]

Considering this. Do you have it? Who do you recommend. Family of 4.

Does it cover things like hip / knee replacements? Thanks for any recommendations.

Have been looking at Aviva, Vitality and the Exeter. Also Benenden (have Benenden already)

Aviva have a reasonable policy which kicks in if the wait for treatment is over 6 weeks. Thinking of combining this with Benenden who I have used in the past for diagnosis and liked.

But would it be better / easier just to have one policy overall.

Been quoted around £60 just for the Aviva as mentioned (which would then include Benenden at £47 a mont for 4) or around £100-120 a month.

[Lonelycats]

But at least homeopathy is included in my policy 😂 couldn’t make it up.

[Lonelycats]

Yes it does seem everything is excluded - our policy even covers pre existing conditions but the list of exceptions is so comprehensive I really have no idea what remains.

[grass321]

Yes this is pretty common, unfortunately. AXA would cover flare up type treatment but not anything routine.

My complaint with AXA is currently with the Financial Ombudsman as they refuse to provide the cover they agreed at the time it was taken out. And have pretty much excluded every part of my body, including minor things I went to see the GP about five years ago. Aaagh!

[Lonelycats]

Just to say Vitality have not been very helpful to me. Basically they seem to have a very wide definition of ‘chronic’ conditions - anything which requires more than one treatment is considered chronic according to the call centre. I read that some of you have had help from your insurers with things like hip replacements and I suppose vitality would support that too but heart conditions which would require ongoing treatment, anaemia which would potentially require more than one iron infusion, are not

[Tyrellius]

Imagine if you stopped paying the NHS cost out of your taxes, and instead got the best private medical insurance available and NOT pay taxes on it (via work or otherwise)???

Not sure if people realise that anyone working is already paying quite a substantial amount towards the NHS. A working family paying for private healthcare and NHS (via Tax), is probably paying something like £20k to £30k on medical, which is a lot more than it costs in countries that don't have "free" healthcare.
The NHS is a extremely wasteful organisation because they have unlimited public money, so a lot of it goes in black holes. They are NEVER held accountable for it.
The NHS is great for people not working and not contributing to the society in any way.

It is quite astonishing why the government doesn't allow people to contribute to private healthcare just like they do with a pension, before tax. After all the longer you live and work, the longer you pay taxes no?

[GwendolenAbott]

Active Quote doesn't specialise in health insurance, they offer a variety of other insurances. They also kept calling me after I had asked for a quote, which is very off putting. I personally wouldn't recommend them. I use a broker for my mortgage and many other insurances I have, so why not health insurance? So far, I have been extremely happy. My policy has been reviewed annually, and I have always saved more money than I would have by going directly. Brokers don't take a cut from you, and they do generally find a far better quote through their comparison than if you were to go directly to the insurers yourself.

[Orangesandlemons77]

I'm not sure sometimes I just prefer to do my own research?

[ssd]

Isn't it more expensive going through a broker, i thought they took a cut of what you pay so what you pay has to increase to cover their share?

[MontyDonsBlueScarf]

I haven't read the whole thread but I'm curious as to why you seem to be against using a broker. For all my insurance I use a combination of a broker and my own research. Sometimes the broker wins hands down and sometimes I do.

Anyway if you want to try a broker I can highly recommend ActiveQuote, www.activequote.com, they specialise in health insurance and are extremely helpful. I don't stand to gain anything from this recommendation other than the satisfaction of helping someone get the best deal for them.

[Orangesandlemons77]

Did a quote just for the teen DC and comes in about £30 a month, Benenden is £25 for the two of them as it is the same cost whatever age...considering just getting Bupa cover for them and keeping wonky me with Benenden as don't think proper health insurance will cover me for many things.

Possibly a bit excessive to cover them but we had a young relative with cancer recently and was woefully misdiagnosed with the NHS.

Also neither of DC have any health concerns at present and Bupa does really good cover for mental health. We do have some in the family although they are OK atm, might be useful for in the future if ever needed.

I wish none of this was needed though.

[Orangesandlemons77]

It's possible to just insure the children as well, if you want. Just need to ring them rather than online.

[Orangesandlemons77]

It's so cheap to insure children as well.

[Roguebludger]

We pay for a family bupa policy and made claims for my then 2 Yr old. They were fantastic and I wouldn't be without them now. The nhs have let us down too many times.

[Orangesandlemons77]

Not yet. I'm still confused on whether it is OK to keep Benenden and then have the fallback of health insurance for anything more serious.

I like Benenden and found it easy to use in the past, plus it covers pre-existing conditions so you don't need to worry about that. Also no excess. But it doesn't cover treatment for many things, you'd still be reliant on the NHS for that.

The idea is that for e.g. heart surgery and cancer, the NHS does a good job, which may have been the case in the past but it just worries me that we can't trust it anymore sadly.

[ssd]

Did you decide on anything @Orangesandlemons77

[dew141]

I think unlimited outpatients cover is a key benefit. Otherwise you're being limited by stealth to only a couple of consultations a year if you need any blood tests or scans at the same time.

I'm just home from my hip replacement at a central London hospital and I'm hoping BUPA are appreciative of the £7k I've saved them for not staying the full 5 nights. (Not to say I'm not grateful for them paying for it). And that's before the cost of the surgeon, anaesthetist and various extras. It mounts up very quickly.

[Orangesandlemons77]

@zaffa

Aaaah sorry everyone - I didn't realise it was a specific package that Axa would have negotiated with the company I work for. I work for a huge company so that's probably why we have so much included.
Good luck OP, I'm really sorry I don't have anything further to add

That's Ok actually AXA rang me back today and confirmed that the MH condition is not a problem, and were really helpful.

It's still a bit more expensive per month but has other benefits such as unlimited amounts for e.g. outpatients which is good.

So, thanks for the recommendation.

[zaffa]

Aaaah sorry everyone - I didn't realise it was a specific package that Axa would have negotiated with the company I work for. I work for a huge company so that's probably why we have so much included.
Good luck OP, I'm really sorry I don't have anything further to add

[MrsBubblegum]

We have Vitality and have claimed a few times. We've never had to pay anything up front (or at all except our monthly premiums)

[Angelonthewall]

@dew141

I think the helpfulness of AXA varies by the type of work scheme. They wanted to exclude pretty much everything on my new work scheme but finally relented.

My issue with our BUPA policy is that it only has £2k for outpatients a year, to cover consultations and minor diagnostics. That's easily reached in a couple of visits.

I do know that standard physio sessions are an hour for AXA and 30 minutes for BUPA. BUPA have seemed less flexible than AXA so far.

I think this is almost certainly true. Companies set their requirements and insurance companies price it - you can literally ask for anything if you are willing to pay and so medical insurance companies provide different levels of service, so depending on recommendations for health insurance policy, is maybe something that can’t easily be relied upon. You need to know you are comparing like with like - other wise it’s apples and pears.

[Orangesandlemons77]

Also no excess (benenden)

[Orangesandlemons77]

@dew141

I think the helpfulness of AXA varies by the type of work scheme. They wanted to exclude pretty much everything on my new work scheme but finally relented.

My issue with our BUPA policy is that it only has £2k for outpatients a year, to cover consultations and minor diagnostics. That's easily reached in a couple of visits.

I do know that standard physio sessions are an hour for AXA and 30 minutes for BUPA. BUPA have seemed less flexible than AXA so far.

You see this is why Benenden would be a good combination with Bupa for only £11 per person extra per month they give £2500 outpatients cover and even use Bupa pre-authorisation codes

[dew141]

I think the helpfulness of AXA varies by the type of work scheme. They wanted to exclude pretty much everything on my new work scheme but finally relented.

My issue with our BUPA policy is that it only has £2k for outpatients a year, to cover consultations and minor diagnostics. That's easily reached in a couple of visits.

I do know that standard physio sessions are an hour for AXA and 30 minutes for BUPA. BUPA have seemed less flexible than AXA so far.

[Orangesandlemons77]

Just did a qucik look at Axa but it seems having MH is a problem - Bupa are also about half the price

[Orangesandlemons77]

I'm now pondering over just taking it out for the DC for the future, they are cheap as young but things like MH care is not good with the NHS Maybe it will be something we do just for them for the future. And keep the rest of us on Benenden