Do you have private health cover?!

[user6482957]

I was talking to my cousin the other day, and she was complaining about an ailment she has, so I asked why doesn’t she see a physio and she said the NHS wait list was too long (something like 12 months+!), I asked if her company provided private health insurance and she said no, only management got private cove (what!!!)r. I was SHOCKED. Honestly, I think I live in a bubble where I have always had private health insurance provided by the employer. My current health insurance covers me worldwide, incl. the US.

So my question is, does your employer provide private health insurance. If not, WHYYYY?

Nope, I've never worked anywhere with free health insurance - mostly charity sector and now a small business.

My current employer does but my last one only had it for some employees. I negotiated it as part of a promotion package. No idea why!

Yes via H's work. Now whole family is covered free but previous employer he had free and he paid £67 a month from gross salary to cover me & kids. He gets dental, eyes and counselling as well. Plus an exercise membership contribution......

I used it for an adult tonsillectomy.

And we contemplated using for eldest broken finger earlier this year but in the end didn't need to.

See this I don't understand. Why cover some employees and not all? What a bizarre concept.

And not only am I covered, my spouse and children are covered too.

Yes my current employer does (very large financial services firm). But I've never had it before.

However my DH's company is just bringing it in, and that's a very small company. So I think it is becoming more common.

See this I don't understand. Why cover some employees and not all? What a bizarre concept.

My company does it for everyone but I don't see it as particularly bizarre not to. Plenty of perks are only available to certain levels eg managers.

IME, most employers don't provide PMI in the UK. Never worked in one that did until recently and that it's only a health cash plan.

Yes, but of course it’s a taxable benefit, which in essence means I pay nearly half the value myself. And I always forget to use it, because the few times I have used it it’s been a pain in the arse (Bupa)

It does at a cost to the employee and the provider can refuse to take the employee.

That happened to me, so all those people looking to ditch the NHS be careful what you wish for.

In my experience of employers (mine and DH's), health insurance for employees is available but not for free - it's optional and you pay for it via salary deductions. So you still have to think about whether it's worth the cost (just like if you were considering private health insurance not through your employer).

Yes but there is a long list of things that aren't covered.

Shocker in 'some companies offer things that others don't'

Yes, ime it's standard to offer it at a discounted rate to employees, not free.

I pay something like £56 a month for myself.

I'm completely thankful at the moment because thanks to that I'm having an operation I would never have been offered on the NHS and now will have back full quality of life in terms of being able to walk long distances. But NHS wouldn't even keep me on in podiatry.

Realistically in this day and age, if you can have it, you should. My friends and family are more and more using their private health cover because the NHS services are either non existant, or the waiting times are prohibative to health.

No. I work for public sector and get no bonus, got no CoL payment, generally 0 % yearly increase and no private health cover.

My company does for everyone, regardless of position, plus they privide life assurance, critical illness cover and death in service benefit. Corporate law

Dh could get it though work but the private cover we’ve had for years anyway (and saved my life once), worked out cheaper and was far more comprehensive so he just stayed on our plan.

Nope. Public sector. I stay for the family-friendly flexibility as I’m a carer, but the downsides that brings in pay means I couldn’t afford to pay for private health cover myself even if I wanted to (although ideologically I do believe in the ethos of the NHS).

I am struggling as to why you are finding it strange that not all companies offer cover, and not all employees are eligible.

It seems somewhat counter intuitive that a public service/ government / council/ nhs employer would pay for private cover and those are big employers in the UK.
I have worked for several US companies and they all offered Private Health Insurance, some as a benefit, others contributory , but all offered different levels depending on where you were in the hierarchy and therefore how important you were to them.
In local companies it very much depends what competitors do to attract talent, plus of course the politics of those making decisions.

Yes I do (international school in Europe). Free for me and I pay a small monthly amount to cover husband and 3 children. It's great - paid for orthodontics for all of them!

DH had full cover for all the family in his previous job. Now he works in the charitable sector so he no longer gets it although they have recently introduced a cheap health cash plan which gives money towards dental/optician bills and also counselling for mental health I think.
We do pay for a Beneden policy ourselves which covers some things but not major heart surgery! We've had treatment approved 3 times but the NHS has come up trumps quite quickly so we didn't claim on Benenden - although that was a few years ago.

It’s only bizarre based on your experience.
it’s not bizarre to not offer private healthcare in a country where there is universal, free at the point of use health care. I’ve worked overseas, and got it then as a condition of employment as there wasn’t an NHS-equivalent.

Therefore, in the UK, many would still see this as a benefit or perk (indeed it’s usually taxed as one). Both my current and previous employers offer it to certain “promoted posts” only. Why? Why not …. It’s what’s relevant to your workforce, I don’t get a company car or train ticket subsidy / loan, we don’t have a gym on-site either.

DH does, and we use it a lot as we all have chronic illnesses or frequent sports injuries. DH will only take jobs that offer PMI for the whole family but it’s very common in his industry (City Finance type jobs)