To ask if you have private health insurance?

[CherryValley5]

Do you have it? Would you get it?

Having just received DD’s (eye watering) PHI renewal it struck me that 10 years ago it would not have even entered my mind to insure a teenager, nowadays it would feel like borderline neglect if I cancelled her policy and instead made her sit on endless NHS waiting lists. I am insured too through work and would never take another job that didn’t offer it. Just sitting here in disbelief that something I would’ve called a luxury not too long ago now feels like an essential for quality of life. It’s so depressing!

I live in a part of the UK where there are no private psychiatric hospitals. I'm not sure how insurance would work for patients detained under MHA, more so requiring PICU. Maybe you would get a rebate?

I agree that psychiatric hospitals are terrible in general whether NHS or block beds in Cygnet/Priory et al. Good to hear you had a positive inpatient experience. I imagine the other main advantage would be easier access to psychological therapies which are rationed heavily in NHS.

Kids being covered was a priority for me. Since my kids were babies I had them privately. Not because I thought the doctors were better, well they were consultants rather than more junior doctors, but they all still had NHS practices. But because I could choose who I wanted them to see and more importantly had them seen without a wait. It’s also invaluable for chronic conditions NHS would make them wait for years for or wouldn’t do such as tonsils adenoids etc

My husband has it for all of us through work. We've had it for a decade but It's been worth its weight in gold for the past 3 years. Helped DS get a prompt diagnosis for Meniere's Disease which meant we got him onto a good medication regime quickly. I also used it to get a ligament repaired in my foot in 2022.

I hope Labour will manage to rescue parts of the NHS so it's not needed as much in future. But ultimately you get what you pay for. And people have got too used to hearing the myth that you can have ultra low taxes and still run a reasonable welfare state. I would honestly pay higher tax if it meant that the NHS was fit for purpose and people could get the care they need. Hate the thought of us moving towards a US type healthcare model.

No. I can't really justify the costs but I've also never had any issues getting care on the NHS. I had blood tests on Monday, had my results yesterday and have an appointment today for a follow up. I'm not sure what extra benefit I'd get from going private?

I do have private dental insurance but that's only because there are no NHS dentists taking on patients here.

No but I have paid privately twice for tests when I didn’t want to wait. I have quite a few chronic health conditions and I think my premiums would be ridiculously high so have never looked in to it. My friend has it through her job, she would like to change jobs but stays because of the health insurance package.

Yes and I work in the industry. I think it is valuable, but remember there are many things where cover is limited- particularly anything chronic or where mental health issues are long term. So it is useful, but has limits.

This thread is a prime example of how MN doesn't actually reflect real life

People describing a lack of expensive, non-essential insurance as "borderline neglectful" is just bonkers.

I don't know a single person who has any kind of private health coverage with the exception of dental. They all just use the NHS and manage just fine.

No, I don’t know anyone who has private health insurance. It’s really expensive and I’m not likely to be insurable - both DH and I have had cancer twice.

I have several chronic illnesses so I'm using to managing some level of pain daily. I guess I'm just used to coping. I think private insurance tends to attract people who worry about getting sick or dying. When you're already sick you just don't worry about it the same. At least in my experience.

“Often”?

I’ve been on lots of company schemes which have very generous cover. Many have moratoriums for pre existing conditions.

Indeed. And claiming it’s an ‘essential’ and not a luxury. Truly mind warping.

Yes and I can’t really afford it but for my peace of mind I pay - I have had patients crying on the phone in pain having been on waiting lists for 10 months or and don’t want to be in that position with work!

Apologies, I don’t have experience of lots of different policies. Sounds like I’ve just been lucky with the policies that my company and my partners company use.

I have it via work. During the pandemic I was on the brink of suicide. GP referred me to CAHMs who never followed up. I was on my knees.

I ended up getting out patient treatment from a psychiatrist. Literally a life saver

I genuinely get upset thinking about how desperate people get treated in this country when their mental health deteriorates.

We have private healthcare via DH's work which I am really grateful for.

We've only really used it for the dentist/GP so far, but it's been invaluable to get a few same day GP appts when we've been quite ill - our NHS GP would be a 3 week wait.

No, never even considered it. If it came down to it we could afford to pay for the typical non urgent ops with long waiting lists eg hip, knee. Dp did have insurance but it only paid the bare minimum for cataract surgery, still cost £3800 to get the better lenses, would have been £5000 without insurance they said.

No, I have various chronic health conditions and I don’t think going private would make any difference. I’ve had excellent treatment when I’ve needed it and regular monitoring at my local hospitals. When I needed surgery it had to be at an NHS hospital anyway because of my illness.

We all have health insurance that pays £200 pp for optician and also dentist every year. DS always claims for his children and reckons their policy pays for itself.

Yes, wouldn’t be without it in the UK. Being 100% reliant on the NHS would be very scary imho.

It's interesting that a lot of people say relying on the NHS is scary.

I spoke to a nurse on Wednesday last week about abnormal periods. Had bloods done on Monday, results back yesterday and a suspected PCOS diagnosis with a referral for an ultrasound today.

I don't think I'd achieve anything different by going privately. I wonder how much of it varies by area.

DD has chronic pain due to spinal problems - insurance has been a godsend for her as it means that she has faster access to treatment, scans, surgery etc and in general more pain management options available to her. Being able to choose a specific consultant to see is also particularly beneficial in my opinion.

I definitely don’t worry about getting sick or dying to a large extent - it is just very comforting to know that should anything happen to either of us it will be sorted asap, rather than having to wait on the NHS.

Yeah I do through my work. Would never want to rely on NHS for anything other than emergency care

I’d assume that they would be able to organise a transfer to a private facility, albeit in a different part of the country. DD needed surgery requiring high dependency care post operatively, there are no private HDU services anywhere near us so they ended up arranging for her to have it done in London. They also paid out for our flights and accommodation.

What is remotely luxurious about paying for insurance when the only alternative is waiting years for often substandard care in a system that can no longer cope?

It’s definitely not a luxury 🤣 why would you pay for health insurance if you didn’t need to? You’d be spending it on actually ‘luxurious’ items surely, like holidays etc?