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!

It's complicated. On the one hand, medical cost inflation has been much higher than general inflation, and the Insurance companies need to make a profit. That makes them expensive and the insurance less and less attractive.

That said. I had an eye condition that required very expensive injections into the eye at monthly intervals. My insurance company (company-sourced) funded the injections until the consultant said that no more improvement was likely. The NHS would only do the injections until any improvement was visible, meaning that a reoccurrence was much more likely, and would then be pretty much untreatable. I was glad to have the insurance!

I'll be retiring in the not-too-distant future (longer than I'd like) and it's a big question as to whether I take out personal health insurance.

It keeps going up because we demand more from it. My employers healthcare has just included for autism assessment so the premiums have gone up again 🤔

Mine went up from
£8600 to £13500 so I didn’t renew.

I can understand the worry if your DD has back problems but what can you do. I wouldn't have the spare cash to pay for my adult child's insurance even if he had health issues, that's life for many.

It’s honestly cheaper to pay for a private consultation and whatever you need than paying these premiums. Anything major you’re being referred back in to the NHS anyway.
A 20 year old doesn’t need private healthcare. Someone older might need to for a new hip or knee. Private healthcare is unaffordable for most people.

My dd has got private therapy and private gyeane care and gastrologist appt with our family policy ( work perk). The nhs would have been shit for her gyeane issues.

I am very happy with it and disagree the nhs is as good.

What is she using bupa for? If outpatients appts only then the max is 400 a year more than what you paying in premium.

Or is she she getting in patient treatment each year? So getting back more than what you paying in?

I’m 48 and my cover (which includes cancer cover and no 6 week wait) is £75 for me and my child. Your price seems extortionately high.

Benenden is only £15.59 per month and although it only pays for tests and some operations, it’s a good, and significantly cheaper, option.

Yes I just save the premiums incase I need an operation or consultation.

100 is quite a low excess.

I have a DD in her early twenties who has had significant private health input after a whole saga of misdiagnoses from the NHS.

The NHS can be good. It can also be awful and my DD (who dropped out of a levels due to what at the time were "unknown medical issues") was lucky that we had private medical with exH's job as otherwise she might still be out of education and with her hashimoto's untreated.

Instead she's treated, on levothyroxine and just finishing a degree.

A fit and healthy 20 year old probably doesn't need see to see a doctor from one year to the next, so private health insurance is a massive waste for them. And if they were ever seriously ill, the NHS would cover it anyway. I think this says more about your "anxiety" than anything else, OP.

Is this a joke? The price of health insurance? Who even has health insurance?! A couple of friends have through work but rest of us (professionals) slum it through the NHS!!

She isn’t your typical 20 year old - she’s fit and healthy but has chronic spinal problems which crop up a few times a year and require consultant input, scans etc. We’d be lost without the insurance due to massive waiting lists where we are. I’m not an anxious mum in the slightest, I am a HCP myself and unfortunately know the system all too well. All of our consultants in work now have their own children insured which to me speaks volumes!

I do think that this partly explains things. This year Bupa have started to include dental cover on all of their private health insurance policies, with no way to opt out. We don’t need or want it - just another unnecessary expense!

Thing is with insurance, all insurance, its about profit. Given that your daughter needs scans and consultant appointments, I'm amazed they're insuring her even for that price or they haven't specifically excluded her condition . My FIL had private medical insurance almost his whole life, and he was always fit and healthy. When he got old and started to make a couple of claims, his insurance company just said - thanks for the lifetime of premiums, but we can no longer insure you. So despite having private medical insurance, for pretty much his whole life, almost all the healthcare he ever received (and he needed a lot in his last few years) was from the NHS.

You were paying over eight thousand pounds a year? Wow.

I got a quote out of curiosity and it was £85 per month.

I had Bupa through work via employer's contribution (but I still had to pay something into it, not a lot but still). I FUCKING HATED IT. I had to fill hundreds of forms to get fucking physio treatment, took 6 months and in the end they refused it. I quit Bupa and went to my GP, waited 3 months and got it on the NHS.

I also had an experience of having general health check done privately and on the NHS - they were literally the same, with the only difference being the private one cost me £600 and was carried out at a fancy hospital. The tests and results were the same.

In addition to this, I had 2 eye appointments at Moorfield - private one and the NHS one. Private one was crap compared to the NHS one, but I had to jump through a lot of hops to get referred by my GP, so this was the main difference.

I would not pay for the insurance, but rather put the money away and use it to pay for one off treatment if the NHS one is not available. The doctors treating you privately are the same ones that work for the NHS, and the only thing you are paying for is the speed with which you are seen with and fancy hospital bed you are getting. Nothing else.

I have private health cover with work. Both times I have tried to use it I have had an initial consultation (once over the phone) then been told we don’t have the facilities for that you’ll need to go NHS.
Absolute waste of time - no way would I pay for it.

@localnotail was that a long time ago? I recently had to get a physio appt, did an online consultation and then got a preauthorisation code the same day to use for 6 appts, no forms to fill in.

It will be the past history of claiming - mine is 40 something a month - went up a lot as I used it last year.

I see it as a necessity due to the appalling “care” that is offered on the NHS. I would probably have ended up killing myself without it.

I would do pretty much anything to ensure I keep mine. I consider myself very lucky to be able to pay my way out of the shitshow that is healthcare in the UK.

Mine is also with Bupa btw - since they now include dental I can ditch my other dental and save myself £20 a month for that too.

Also never had to fill in forms - just called up after GP appt for authorisation code.

Their private GP service is a godsend as well. So much availability every single day.

Last year. They were not happy I wanted to use them few months after signing up. They wanted me to pay insurance for a year before I could get any treatment so dragged it out forever. I was required to go to my own GP and get them to fill shit load of forms and write letters.

I also had a private dentist (on the dental insurance) that firstly completely missed out and then refused to treat dental abscess unless I pay extra.

Likewise, doing whatever it takes to keep it, it’s something I’m going to hang onto as long as I can, I want to make sure I always have the option for a second opinion basically. Without it I don’t want to think about what a worse situation id be in cancer wise after nhs basically kept dismissing it and saying I was anxious.

I appreciate many areas have crap GPs, no appointments etc but I live in London and can see my GP next day if its urgent - within a week if its not. Obvs talk on the phone first but never had t wait for weeks/ months, as a lot of people seem to had to do.

What sort of health insurance do people recommend and who with?