AIBU to wait until my private health cover is approved before seeing GP?

[AngryFeet]

Here is my earlier thread about symptoms I have been having.

We have recently applied for private healthcare through DHs work (they fund it and we just pay the tax). It is pretty comprehensive cover.

I keep thinking that if there is a problem with my back or worse it would be much better to go private but if I see my GP before it is approved I can't claim on it.

Does this make me stupid/a wanker etc etc? Or sensible?

How long is it going to take to approve? Do you think you can wait?

no

but you then can't declare to them that you had these symptoms before as it will be pre-existing and not covered

3 weeks to approve and we handed it to the PA 9 days ago.

Good point activate I would have to lie a bit which can't be good. Hmm.... that may have thrown a spanner in the works....

There's a waiting period.....so if you can .

Although they say the cover starts from the date you signed it which would be 10 days ago now. Back pain is recent really but not the other stuff.

I can't see a waiting period in the terms and conditions midlands

God this is like Joey and The Hernia.

How much pain are you in? Honestly?

So you've not seen your GP for back pain then.

It depends what the nature of your back pain is, and what you're hoping will be offered by your GP.

Private medicine won't necessarily be any better than NHS provision, unless you know you're going to need surgery (and I wouldn't have back surgery in a private hospital if you paid me tbh).

the benefit of private healthcare is that you get seen quickly by a consultant at a time that suits you

the downside is that the outpatient limit is usually quite low meaning that consultant fees and test fees will eat it up very quickly but if hospitalised or needing MRIs it should be covered.

what you can do is pay for initial consultant allow £150 to £300 as the delay is always the initial referral IMO - then your GP can do any tests and then you can transfer to consultant's NHS list - I don't really care about the ethicality of this when it comes to mine or my family's health

If you see a consultant privately then want your operation on the NHS, you won't get your operation any quicker than if you'd seen him on the NHS in the first place. We know people try to game the system. Safeguards are put in place for this.

But if you are in pain, please go and get seen.

If you see a consultant privately then move to his NHS list you are in NHS waiting times of course

the benefit is avoiding the initial wait for a consultant meeting and the initial tests which is the worst part of any ailment - not knowing what is wrong - if you have symptoms you are worried about seeing someone initially within 2 days is far superior to waiting for weeks or months for that first visit - you then get moved through the NHS at the rate your diagnosis dictates

If you see a consultant privately on insurance and need an operation you get it done privately - it is the outpatient stuff that tends to have a limit ie consultant meetings and tests

Unless you are in unbearable pain, I would definitely wait. Back pain is exactly the sort of thing that is a nightmare to sort out on the NHS. Also, I hate to say this, but it is quite likely to recur and if you declare it as a pre-existing problem it is something like 4 or 5 years you would need to be symptom-free before you could get health insurance to cover it (on BUPA anyway).

You could maybe see a GP about the other stuff and not mention the back pain if you are worried it might be cancer. It could just be a side effect.of the antibiotics or something that is easy to reassure about. If it is something more serious, you shouldn't hang around.

You would have to lie to your gp about symptoms, 'cos the insurance is often specific that pre-existing conditions - even if not yet investigated - are not covered. Also, you often have to answer questions in applying for the insurance and may have to lie. If you do lie, are referred privately and are later found out, you could be left with big bills and / or charged with fraud.

Just seen your other thread and think it would be better to go to your gp, always better than doing nothing, whatever it turns out to be.

It sounds from your other post that if your back pain is related to your other pelvic symptoms then they would be able to say it was a pre-existing condition, as you saw your GP about the pelvic symptoms, so they will be notedin your case file.

Isn't there a poster recently who had back pain and didn't go to her GP until late and has ended up permanently in a wheelchair?

Thanks all. I am going today. Better to be safe than sorry I guess. Hopefully it isn't something serious! I worry that private cover would mean I was more likely to survive if I has cancer for example. I may be wrong though - I know little about this to be honest.

Private care only means you're seen more quickly and in more comfort - it doesn't mean you're more likely to survive

there are many areas of medicine where the NHS, once you are on the treadmill, is vastly superior to private care - many