To be terrified that private health insurance will become unaffordable

[TheBelleOfBelfastCity]

I don’t feel comfortable or safe living without it due to waiting lists and the state of the NHS but at the same time I genuinely don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to afford it.

I pay for 20 yo DD’s policy - her renewal came in today at £97/month. Considering it tends to go up around £30 per year it won’t be long before it’s reaching in to the £££s and beyond. Really and truly I do not have the money to pay for this if it continues to go up but at the same time it’s a question of somehow finding the money or DD not receiving the care or treatment that she needs in a timely manner. Just cannot believe that this is what life has come to in what is allegedly a first world country!

The majority of people in the UK don't have health insurance

None of my family do and we are all still fit and well

I can't imagine that many 20yo have it so I think YABU

Assuming she’s fit and well, that’s very high for a 20 year olds policy.

Also health insurance for a healthy 20 year old is probably a waste of money. I’m a fairly big advocate for health insurance for those who can afford it, but the chance of her having an issue that would also be covered by a the policy is very very low.

At the moment, health insurance isn't a requirement - so there's no incentive for firms to keep it affordable or provide a basic affordable option. Maybe in time that will become the case (I hope not, for various reasons), but at the moment it's a luxury only available to those who can afford it, because healthcare is still available to us all free at the point of use. Now I know it can be bad for certain things, but it is there, and not all bad - it does depend on area and complaint, of course, and it's a crying shame this isn't being fixed. With a 20 year old I'd wonder you'd be better paying out of pocket for further investigations privately for things you think the NHS aren't taking seriously, rather than just having coverage all the time: i.e. things that are affected by consultant waiting lists.

But this means you've got three options: keep paying it, get your DD to pay it herself (as she's an adult now, she may well choose not to spend that money), or stop paying for it. Some jobs do offer a measure of health insurance now, too, so it's worth her keeping an eye out for that when looking for/changing jobs.

£97 is a lot. I’m 15 years older, have full London cover / cancer cover etc… and I only pay £90. I’m moving to AXA for the same cover and it’s lower still. Is your excess very low? Increase the excess and look at other providers.

Unless she has ongoing conditions etc. that's really high. I pay around the £60 mark for me and my daughter and I'm double your daughter's age.

I'm similar to yourself, I prioritise health care over other luxuries like cars etc. but sadly it is just that, a luxury. If she has no pre-existing conditions and she works it maybe worth seeing if she can get health insurance through work, or she will have to pay for her own insurance from now on.

Just use the NHS like the vast majority. It’s better than private when it comes to serious or long term conditions.

Omg are people actually paying for this themselves?

The only people i know who have & use private have it through their employer as a perk.

Ive got cover this way and there's only a handful of things its worth using for. If you are seriously ill/need emergency care its no match for the NHS.

How often do you claim? If not very often then just save the £100 for her per month. Private hospitals often give massive discounts to people who pay for scans without insurance. Eg my cardiology consultant appointments cost £250 a time via Bupa but only £60 when I paid privately.

Well the vast majority of the UK population don’t have it either. Just look after your health 🤷‍♀️ The NHS has always been there for me when I needed it and has saved the lives of multiple family members.

Not many 20-year-olds have private health cover unless they are getting it through work or a parent's work policy. Presumably there is a particular reason why you need this for your daughter? Otherwise, as others have said I would just save the money, or as much of it as you can afford, each month to cover any medical bills. The amount you are paying is also high for a 20 year old which makes me think that she must have some ongoing conditions. Unfortunately in that case you can only expect it to increase each year if you are making a lot of claims. What is the excess on the policy currently?

Just pay private when or if you need to and save the premiums to cover it. Anything really bad will end up with the NHS anyway.

We've just taken dd off our policy as she is rarely even sees gp. But our quote for her was only £35 ish. £97 is huge. Ours in late 50s with health issues was not much more than your quote each.

If you’re under 16, pregnant or over 40 and under 70 yes the NHS is very good. But for young people in their 20s private healthcare can literally save lives as the NHS can be very useless for them

good on you for paying for it yourself and help alleviate the pressure on the NHS. More people should be doing this or forced to do this in my opinion to reduce NHS pressure and shift waiting list onto the private sector.

Former nurse and NHS manager here. Honestly, anything that is likely to be seriously wrong with a 20 year old is not going to be the sort of thing that a private hospital will cope well with. They're good for joint replacements, cataracts and hernias. You wouldn't want to be in one with appendicitis, an ectopic pregnancy or a significant infection. In fact they wouldn't admit her for those things and would just ship her out to the NHS.

You'd be better off saving up your premiums to build up a fund to dip into to expedite tests and appointments.

Private health care has a place but it doesn't come into its own until later on in life.

You have the NHS, that is your existing health insurance you pay through your taxes.

It’s not perfect, but there’s very little your private health insurance will get you above and beyond the NHS other than quicker appointments. And better catering.

Why are you "terrified"? Does your daughter has some sort of chronic illness?

That's a lot for a 20 year old. I pay for Bupa full cover got myself and one dc (through my company). We pay £75 a month for both of us.

the NHS just is not there to use though half of the time and treatment not available. I hazard a guess you never needed urgent care but couldn't get it or had to leave work as you got so unwell whilst being stuck on waiting lists? Its very easy to say 'use the NHS' if you don't have any health conditions that need treatment and you get on with the odd GP visit. But that isn't the case for many.

If it goes up by £30 a year, chances are wages will have increased too.
Your DD doesn't really need it as she's young and less likely to get sick.

Private health insurance won't help if you have a real emergency that requires a 999 call. You'll still need to 'slum it' with the NHS. (I still think the NHS are great by the way. World class in many areas.)

Take a look at Benenden Healthcare, I've had it for years. I pay around £16 a month and if the NHS wait times are longer than 6 weeks, you can go private.

I had a hysterectomy within 5 weeks of seeing a consultant in a Spire hospital. On the NHS I'd have waited over two years.

I am pretty sure I pay about that much in tax monthly for my work benefit of private healthcare! Maybe I'm being ripped off!!

Can you take a bigger excess and get any frills taken off? That seems a very high premium. I am not in the UK but when my son was suddenly taken ill, he was rushed into a public hospital. They coincidentally found a very early cancer which they weren't looking for and we had to stay public for treatment though I have to say our public system is nowhere near as bad as the NHS. (He's fine now and that was 7 years ago.)

Well, I grew up in the US where we have shit tons of private insurance. I was in my 20s (20 years ago!) paying $600 a month and then I lost my job and insurance just at exactly the same moment as I had a cancer scare and needed a biopsy. The biopsy alone was $2000 and I couldn’t afford it. I had to wait 2 years to get insurance again because no national healthcare system to fall back on.

My mum with very expensive private insurance had to wait 3 months to start chemo when she had cancer because of the pre-authorisation (someone needed to approve it).. In the Uk, on the NHS, in 3 months since I’ve been referred on the 2 week pathway, I’ve had 2 operations, going in for my 3rd, and starting treatment this month. Much quicker than private. It took 2 weeks from them recommending treatment to me being seen in oncology to start.

Private health insurance is a luxury, a great extra if you can afford it, but doesn’t provide an advantage all the time. Like private school, if you want it, you have to be able to pay for it. But you are still very lucky that there is an excellent healthcare system to fall back on (which you’d be referred to anyway for most of the big stuff).