To think Rishi has made it clear he has private health provision

[Kinnorafron]

After 13 years of Tory destruction of the health service I can see why - but what about people who can't afford it?

you could still use NHS resources when using private healthcare. NHS hospitals have private wards and its not like they use their own nurses/doctors. its all from the same pool.my private healthcare also has unlimited virtual GP appointments and all the GPs i have used to date all work in the NHS.

In the UK while there are private hospitals, private health insurance also serves like a concierge service as the main infrastructure is the NHS.

This.

It’s absolutely acceptable for him to have private health insurance. I have it, and I’m not a high earner by any means (only work 14 hours a week). It’s important to me so I prioritise it. There’s no way I’m relying on our NHS.

You use NHS for some things as private not available for everything. Same for anyone.

Do you think any PM has waited at the local GP?

This story really lands with the left well. It’s odd though, it doesn’t make sense at all.

I don't care what health provision he has. I know and respect plenty of people with health insurance who are well adjusted and in touch.

The issue for me is the evasiveness. Why isn't he just honest? What's he hiding?

All the people with private healthcare are reducing the NHS queues for elective work but those doctors and nurses working in private healthcare could be working in the NHS but aren't.

And if something goes wrong during private treatment, they dial 999 like everyone else, and get emergency care from the NHS. There's a reason private healthcare is often situated near A&E departments.....

But you are still relying on the NHS for all the bits the private sector finds too hard/expensive.
As a PP pointed out, David Cameron made use of state provisions because he understood the significance.

I'd have thought most MPs would have health insurance/private care.

I've got it through my work and I'm certainly not wealthy.

I pay £56 for me and my daughter. She has full cover and mine is restricted to medical treatment within my local area (which incidentally has some amazing private hospitals so I was happy to restrict mine, but not my daughter’s). Still worth having for 24 hour access to GP, full treatment and cover otherwise.

private isn't available for everything. But thats not the question. The question is whether he has private healthcare provision.

If every PM has private health provision, then why doesn't he say that. If you asked me why i have private healthcare and don't wait for GP at 8 am in the morning, i would say my employer pays for it.

Exactly - if it's "normal" etc why didn't he just say "of course I have"?

I’m fine with keeping privacy and let’s face it it was a biased outlet aiming for a headline. PMs are accountable for policy not for failing to line up at 8am every time they need a prescription.

For all the examples of Cameron and schools etc I doubt you’ll find a PM that has.

tbh you can always go private for anything but A & E. Its just that the insurance may not pay for it fully (if too expensive) or they would increase your premiums to the extent that you would be shelling out tens or even hundreds of thousands (there was a good article in the times about this in the times). Private health insurance is shockingly under-regulated so if you aren't a multi-millionaire with a disposable 100k, its probably best to go NHS if you have cancer. Different for GP appointments or simple operations of course (most people in the UK who use private use it for cheap things like scans, which can expedite the diagnosis process). A tory voter I know who has been shelling out for Bupa cover (her husband is clergy so no employee cover) is extremely angry about this. She wants Bupa to return her premiums for the past 10 years rofl.

I think thats why its probably more sensitive for someone like Rishi Sunak. He can afford to go private all the way- insurance or not. He doesn't even need insurance tbh, he can just rock up to the private hospital and do PAYG.

cancer is the main reason we have private. Most policies will cover cancer care including in patient and operations in full. Most will also cover treatments not on the nhs but standard of care elsewhere in full which offers wider choice of treatments. You're also more likely to get scans and results quickly and start treatment more quickly, I am speaking of this from experience. We also found that we had access to the consultant email and phone, saw him rather than a member of the team every time and the care was exemplary at every step

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c0486b12-5206-11ed-bb65-87f2b7644902?fbclid=IwAR3c6inotgdGxZKltPThTUv80aYbWudPSGK6ynCUeprHLa4b_maEWCx189o

After James Guthrie KC fell ill, he received a sliver of comfort through the post when Bupa, his private medical insurers, sent a pamphlet entitled Supporting You through Cancer.
“At a time when you’ll already have more than enough on your mind, we understand that the last thing you want to worry about is money,” it read.
Guthrie, 72, has been a customer for more than 20 years. For peace of mind he always made sure his insurance, which also covers his wife, Lu, a calligrapher, was fully comprehensive and included “cancer cover”.
Best of Times: Our flagship newsletter featuring our top stories and analysis, delivered every morning. One-click sign-up
Before he got cancer, he had been paying about £7,000 a year. Since getting bowel cancer in 2017, however, his premium has gone up — and up. It almost doubled from about £42,000 in 2020 to almost £82,000 last year, a bill that arrived when he was seriously ill and receiving chemotherapy.
Last month, a bill arrived for £163,639. “This seems to miss the point of insurance,” said Guthrie, whose older brother is Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, the former chief of the defence staff.

“It seems to me outrageous that Bupa can make money from people who are perfectly well but when they have the misfortune to become ill they either want to get rid of them or charge a premium they can’t possibly afford, so they can avoid taking responsibility.”
Guthrie is one of thousands of people experiencing rising costs for private medical insurance, owing to increases in medical costs; inflation; energy prices; higher insurance premium tax [IPT]; and a shortage of doctors and nurses. His case serves to highlight the gamble patients make when opting to “go private” with insurers trying to recoup the cost of expensive medical procedures from the patients themselves.
Martyn James, a consumer champion, said: “There is an assumption [health insurance] is a little bit like a pension, that this kind of policy is frontloaded. They get all your money when you aren’t making claims and then when you reach your sixties and seventies, and you need cover, they will pay out.
“This is a salutary reminder that that’s not always the case.”

My DH has Vitality cover via his work, for all of us. He's paid in for a decade.

It's almost impossible to use it when you need it. Their tech is rubbish. There are no GP appointments available at the moment - I've tried every day for weeks (they use the same private providers as everyone else and they're slammed). There's exclusions for most things, excesses apply and the specifications on limits are restrictive. It's also v hard to actually claim, even when eligible, forms have to be signed by people for whom it's not their role and can't be e- completed etc.

They take weeks to reply to emails, their telephone staff are not keen to help...

We've have had a referral authorised but the local private providers can't offer appointments for weeks.

There are no guarantees in the UK, even if you pay.

@NEmama · Today 08:19
Fyi if you can afford private health insurance and don't get it as a benefit from your employer you are pretty well off.
You aren't well off particularly, you perhaps have different spending priorities.
Most working class people I know who use private don't have private insurance (except me with my dentist). I spent what I would have on a family overseas holiday on treatment for my dd that had a too long waiting list. My pensioner parents would say they can't afford a holiday abroad or new car, but have pulled money out of their saving to get a faster knee replacement. They don't smoke, don't drink much, don't go to restaurants unless it's a Birthday etc, so aren't well off.

It is extremely under-regulated because technically only 7% of the population use private healthcare so no real push to regulate it. And the majority of those who have it are in employment so less likely to have expensive chronic conditions. And the private health insurers know they can push you to the NHS.

There are queues in the private sector too but if you pay enough you can get anything. I really can’t imagine anyone with over a million pounds in the bank cannot get a private GP appointment.

full private medical insurance paid privately and not via one’s employee for example with BUPA costs an absolute fortune and rockets as you get older when you may need it more. It’s not possible if you earn average wage.

If he'd have just said yes I do as I can afford it and it frees up resources for others then IMO that's better that the painful response he actually gave. I hate the tory 'not in the public interest' card. Boris used to do it about his dozens of kids. Rishi does it about his very obvious wealth. It is in our interests. Hopefully more people will realise that a multi multi millionaire with apparently zero empathy is not the best person for the job.

Yeh same here. NHS same day v 48 to 72 hours GP

Any PM will likely rely on something else, a private GP. Not just Sunak but any.

Yes, while we've not made much progress via the private route, the NHS has slowly but surely moved us through the system in the background. And been an emergency safety net (if unpleasant and uncomfortable) in the meantime.

Meanwhile, Vitality continue to faff.

I've had private healthcare since I first started working. I have had several reasons to use it. My surgeries - ERPC, cruciate surgery X2 and associated MRIs, physio etc have all been in private hospitals. My daughter has had two MRIs, in a private hospital. We all have 24 hour gp access, worldwide.

Yes the consultants also work for the nhs but that's their decision unless you abolish private healthcare.

In the time period (weeks) we've not been able to book a private gp appointment via vitality, I've had several same day replies to econsults from my NHS GP!

We had varying experiences with our private healthcare. For me its possible to get 3 am virtual GP appointments which enable me to obtain antibiotics. For DH, he had 1 private operation at a private hospital (and cost of claiming for the year was £200 so well worth it) and another time, they asked him to go to A & E.

I wouldn't rely on it but I am glad we have it. Its worrying though if the NHS collapses because it is just not 100% reliable.

I sort of thought it was there if we needed it, but hadn't tested it. I'm now v aware how hit and miss and unreliable it will be.

The resources just aren't out there anyway. As a country we do not train enough HCPs, we don't retain enough, we don't offer attractive reasons and processes to move to the UK to work in health. A shift in the workforce such as is required will take decades to make.

If the NHS remains as it is, or gets worse (as seems likely) then the reality is that many, many of us will go without healthcare to varying degrees, even if insured and/or willing to pay.