To spend £650 each month on health insurance?

[startingallover]

£650 pays out monthly to cover me, dh and our four children. We can't really afford it but we're making it a priority over other things. Dh wants us to cancel and says it's a waste of money. He says we could put some money in a pot and use it if we needed to pay for treatment. I know this wouldn't happen though as we have actually reduced our bill lately and have to pay £250 excess per year. Since then we are being far more careful. Cancer runs in my family and I do worry about getting ill. The peace of mind of being able to go in and get checked the same week is worth the sacrifices we make. But dh really wants me to cancel it. It's a big payment each week but I can't bring myself to ring up and cancel it. AIBU?

[OldJoseph]

QOD's advice sounds pretty good too.

[HappySeven]

I work in radiotherapy and we have private and NHS patients. I would always recommend going NHS.

IME if you go NHS you get a consultant who specialises in that particular type of cancer and treats lots of people with the same thing every year. It has improved recently but sometimes when you go private you get a consultant who is friends with whoever you saw first and knows about radiotherapy but may not be a specialist in your particular type. You also sometimes get treatment which may not be in your best interest but as you're paying for it you get everything thrown at it.

A private patient will get to see a consultant very quickly though so if that's what you want then that's what you're paying for. Under the NHS we do have deadlines we have to achieve or we get fined so you should get treated quickly which means 31 days from decision to treat or 62 from referral by GP. Contrary to popular opinion Cancer does not grow very quickly and so both are safe. It takes quite a bit of time to plan and check treatments and so rushing them would be less safe.

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

I had cancer treatment on the NHS. It was a joke. I am so grateful that I had private cover and I would sell everything I owned rather than lose it. I would literally be dead without it. I could not even get a diagnosis on the NHS, never mind any treatment.

An extreme example but totally depends on where you live and how good the local healthcare. Now married to a consultant so there are no more queues for me (and the morality of that is a whole other thread...) but I keep the private health cover purely for the cancer drugs access. The NHS will, I suspect, fund fewer drugs as the cuts begin to bite.

[stumblymonkey]

I can see that your anxiety about health issues has been triggered by past experiences.

The vast majority of people in the UK would rely on NHS care unless they happen to have free private insurance through work or are wealthy enough to afford it without any issues so I think your decision would be considered unreasonable by most but is obviously based on your health anxiety.

I think the money would be better spent on counselling for your health anxieties and resolving your feelings about the past that have caused them. This would be cheaper, more sustainable and lead to less conflict in your relationship.

[Orangeanddemons]

I remember when I needed a psychiatric referral quickly, there were no private practising psychiatrists. I live on a massive city with about 6 nhs hospitals, but not one private psychiatrist. They all preferred to work in the NHS. I had to travel 40 miles to see one.

I only had private health insurance through dh's work. I wouldn't have used it otherwise.

[ToffeeForEveryone]

How often do you actually make use of this for private medical care? If you are potentially high risk because of family history that's a different scenario than if you / your DCs are already experiencing health problems and receiving regular treatment.

It is an awful lot of money, even if you are using it regularly. Have you actually checked you can't get a better deal with another insurer? Seems way above market rate.

I agree with pps, it sounds like you have a lot of anxiety about health issues and perhaps you should consider seeing a counsellor to help you judge whether the cost is reasonable for you and your family.

[alicemalice]

The bigger issue is your health anxiety. Have you had treatment for that? That would be the best place to start.

[Notstayingup]

If you are worried about cancer I can give you my experiences:

My DF was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and went through BUPA for treatment - most policies will cover you for tests and then hand you off to the NHS for the long term treatment. Dad saw a couple of consultants and then they referred him back to the NHS as the specialist in his particular condition was in the NHS - he was saw very quickly and had the best treatment, from the consultant, radiographers, nurses, physios - everyone was just magnificent. The only difference the private healthcare made was that he was referred to a consultant within a day or so, but that consultant immediately sent him back into the NHS system via his GP as that is where the best care for his condition was. He died anyway, but wasn't from lack of care.

A few years later, My DB was diagnosed with a unexpected (for his age - 30) form of Leukaemia - time was of the essence due to his type of blood cancer. The timeline of diagnosis was he had a blood test on the Thursday lunchtime at our local Drs surgery, he had a call the same day at 4pm to meet a Hematologist at the local hospital at 6pm - he was seen and kept overnight on IV antibiotics, transferred the following day to to a specialist hospital where he stayed in isolation for the next 6 months - a day after he was admitted he was diagnosed with pnemonia in both lungs and we had the talk with the Drs (i.e. he could go downhill from here but they will do everything) - they did everything they could and they were wonderful - he lived and is in remission for 2 years now - he is still taking part in clinical trials that Imperial college is running and goes back every 3 months to see his Drs.

A lot of stuff gets written about the NHS and Jeremy Hunt is determined to kill it altogether, but it to me, is one of the greatest institutions in the world and we are so very lucky to have it.

Try to be kind to yourself, you clearly are very invested and worried about your/family health, but you have a wonderful system to call on and the cancer care is very very good (in my limted experience)

[Fluffycloudland77]

But the NHS is really good at urgent care, it's secondary care like physio that's harder to access and that can be accessed privately with ease.

Look after your general health instead.

[laurierf]

This year, why not stick £500 a month into a savings account instead of paying out £680 a month to an insurer. £6k a year into a savings account you call your "health" means that you will have the cash, should you ever need it, to pay to skip the queue, which is the only real benefit of going privately.

[TelephonicsSuper]

The NHS is superb for the big stuff, and not too shabby at the little stuff either. I've had private treatment via work, and ended up back in the NHs anyway. It's a waste of money having private insurance for healthcare in the UK.

[laurierf]

Sorry meant to say, agree to cancel insurance with DH on the basis this money goes into the savings account called "health fund" and that perhaps it's a non-instant access account that can't easily be dipped into to cover non-health related spending.

[PeridotPassion]

Personally I think that's mental.

Why not just invest in a good critical illness policy?

I pay around £40 a month for that which would pay out a couple of hundred grand if the worst happened. If you got a higher policy you could be paying £200 for £500k for instance.

[Cachareltastic]

If this is Bupa then shop around? My BUPA went up massivly, now with AXA for a fraction of the price.

[ChubbyPolecat]

Putting money into an account wouldn't even touch the sides of needing to pay for cancer treatment. But I basically came to say what QOD said, there's no need to pay so much as you could potentially switch, take your DH and kids off your policy and put them on their own and add a 6 week wait clause. £650 a month is ridiculous amount to pay

[dontcallmethatyoucunt]

Speak to an IFA or adviser that specialises in insurance. There are many ways to skin this cat. Part of it is self insurance, ie savings.

[laurierf]

Yes, agree, savings wouldn't touch the side of paying for cancer treatment (do you really need to pay for cancer treatment in the UK though?) and that getting critical illness cover would be a much better option. I know the price of this has gone up in recent years but would still be nothing like £650 a month.

[EssentialHummus]

IMO the NHS is brilliant for the 'big' stuff - cancer, emerfencies, anything acute to do with kids. Where it's really not so great is the non-urgent stuff, fair enough, it can't be all things to all people.

I agree. I use both - mainly NHS but paid to see endocrinologist rather than wait 40 days for the NHS appointment. Now use DP's insurance.

You haven't said whether you're currently undergoing treatment for anything or why your premiums are so high, but in your position I'd stick £300 a month in a separate account instead - in the currency of my issue that's one specialist blood test and one consultant appt a month. You can always go back to the insurance if you need to. And, as the insurance saleslady above said, pls shop around.

[Lightbulbon]

I think your real issue is health anxiety.

Spend the money on that.

If the reason you've got it is cancer the NHS does the best cancer treatment.

You can always pay as you go for quick consultations.

What cancer did your dsis have? Is it genetic? Could you be tested for a gene?

[ChubbyPolecat]

You can't go back to the insurance if you have a condition you need treating. If you cancel and try to take out a new policy x months down the line you'll be rejoining on a moratorium which means anything you've had treatment or investigation for in the last 3 or 5 years wouldn't be covered. At least going from one policy to the other you can switch and have your existing conditions covered (potentially)

[Merguez]

My most recent experience of the NHS with DS was fantastic.

He got a small, deep cut on his face larking around with his friends. Went straight to A&E. They referred him directly to Bristol Children's Hospital where he was booked in with a plastic surgeon for a general anaesthetic to have it repaired properly at 9 am the next day. We were given a private room, bathroom, TV.

When the consultant plastic surgeon saw him, she said the op wasn't necessary after all - and he is now fine, no scar. But if it had been necessary I cannot see how private treatment could have improved on what we were offered.

We get private hc insurance through dh work. But if we did not I would be saving the equivalent long-term premiums to build up a fund (as others have said). That would mean you could choose to pay to be seen quicker, consultant of your choice for the less serious stuff. And as many others have said, for the bad stuff or emergencies I think the NHS will do you proud.

[HermioneWeasley]

OP, it's a difficult one but on balance I think that money could be put to better use. If it s about fast access to a consultation and diagnostic tests then one to two months' premiums would cover that in most cases. The NHS really is very good at big things like cancer and heart disease.

As others have said, I'd put it into savings - hopefully you will live a long and healthy life and the savings can be a deposit on a house for your kids!

[Pidapie]

I just rely on NHS to be honest. Good enough for me.