Private health insurance

[Whathefisgoingon]

After a self funded trip to Nuffield today, I am keen to get health insurance for myself, DP and DS (2) so that I can go private for all issues moving forward.

I have no conditions currently but an investigative ultrasound scheduled for 2 weeks time. If I take out insurance today, would I be able to use it for that appointment?

In any case, looking for recommendations on who to go with and what to look for specifically!

thanks

You probably won't be able to use it for that appointment but you'll have an excess for every appointment that's not for the same thing anyway. Probably wouldn't be worth claiming.

@MrsPerfect12 thanks. Any recommendations?

Looking at various things online Bupa, AXA and Vitality keep coming up - but it’s a complete minefield and I’m worried I’ll agree to something that isn’t as it seems.

Considering speaking to a broker but having worked at a brokerage myself..... not so sure 😂

You may not have an excess for every single issue, it depends on the type of cover you have. I have a £100 excess per policy year. Some policies cover pre-existing medical conditions (mine does) others do not.

I'm with Axa. My excess is £100 and currently under treatment for me knee but im quite sure if I went for another issue I'd be another excess charge, I could be wrong. From memory we're £170 ish per month.
Ive been with bupa previously so either is fine but I had to stay with Axa as was already under treatment.

I've just had a look and maybe it is as @Nikhedonia says and one £100 excess per year.

Seemingly as I have suffered with anxiety and depression for most of my life, this would not be covered. Does anyone have a plan that covers pre existing conditions?

Yes, mine covers pre-existing conditions. It's paid for by my employer and so I only pay the p11d. Axa is the provider.

I went through compare the market for some quotes and had a really comprehensive phonecall afterwards with one of their brokers. He took details about both our preexisting conditions and recommended a policy for me and DD (1yr) with Aviva. DH has PMI through work and it worked out cheaper us buying our own policy than adding us to his office policy. Might be worth a try?

@Nikhedonia thanks. When I got an AXA quote online it said it wouldn’t cover anything pre existing for the first 2 years.

Medical insurance predominantly depends on the underwriting you agree to. If you take out insurance which is MHD (Medical History Disregarded) pre existing conditions will be covered but this is the most expensive and you will agree the excess you want to have at the time of taking out the policy. There is also moratorium underwriting and Full Medical History. I suggest you google the meaning of the underwriting, you will then have a better idea of what you want.

@YorkshireTeaCup thanks. I’ll give it a go. Obviously I’m not short of phone calls having gone through an online comparison engine 😂

Have you used Aviva yet? How did you find them if so?

This idea that you still have to go to your NHS Gp for a referral drives me nuts.

Hiya
my job is selling private medical insurance

I would recommend you speak to a broker and just be honest around budget and pre existing conditions

they will do a whole of market comparison and in my experience will give better service than going to the company direct because when you take the product out direct with say Bupa Vitality etc you are on your own after that whereas a broker will take control of any complaints or queries you have to try and retain you as a customer on their books

if you have pre-existing mental health conditions I do know of one company in the market that will cover these after you have been on cover for 3 months.

if you are currently undergoing test and treatments for a physical condition however and this is declared which please do so then you will probably have an exclusion for this if you choose underwriting where you declare everything

I would recommend you look at moratorium underwriting if you DO have an existing condition because as long as you don’t have treatment tests medication or advice for a pre existing condition for a 2 year period after your cover starts these conditions become eligible for care, but the ‘issue’ with moratorium is that you don’t declare anything upfront so for the first few years on cover you are assessed on eligibility for everything you want to claim for.

excess can be per claim or per policy year- per claim makes it cheaper

@MrsSales thank you for the reply.

So I AM currently undergoing investigations but so far everything is coming back completely normal, and my consultant thinks this is the case too.

Is it the case that if I was to decide to investigate again in 6 months, these investigations would mean I could not use health insurance to do so, despite no condition having been diagnosed?

My excess is £100 pp per year with axa not per condition

For most insurers yes that’s right.
even if no diagnosis- speaking to a dr/ consultant even a physio is enough for it to be deemed pre- existing

I see it all the time where people say ‘but I didn’t KNOW I had arthritis I was just having bloods or an ultrasound at that point’ doesn’t matter unfortunately you knew something wasn’t right and seen a dr about it so it existed even as just a niggle

you may feel it’s not worth it as you can’t get treatment for what is bothering you NOW but as with any insurance it covers you on the whole for what may happen in future,

as pp have said there is different underwriting options

a good broker can review which one would best suit your needs and can give you tailored advice on what each one would mean going forward

@MrsSales that seems crazy though!

for example a few months ago I went to the Gp with what o thought was a breast lump. She referred me to the breast clinic as per be process, they did a scan and nothing was there at all. Just normal tissue.

So because of this, they wouldn’t pay out in future?

I think if the investigations were negative you would be covered in future. Your current referral may or may not be covered though. We had an excess of £200 each pa iirc.

I've used both Bupa and Axa via private health care offered via my company. I haven't seen any real difference in them. My Axa policy is better but I assume thats due to the cover my company choose rather then the insurance companies themselves.

Even the policies that include pre-existing conditions can have limitations especially on things like mental health. DH's policy through work for me limits CBT for mental health the claims in 2 policy years. So I could claim for 104 weeks if I claimed in the first week of cover but only 53 if I claimed the week before renewal.
And cover for chronic conditions (things that cannot be cured) is usually excluded.

I spoke to AXA who said that since I had already had a breast scan, they would not cover another one EVEN THOUGH nothing was found.

This wouldn’t necessarily be true of all insurers

if someone came to me with this I would look at either
full medical underwriting- declare there was a minor diagnostic but no findings and signed off the books of the dr for that- no follow ups etc and let the underwriters decide their appetite for risk

or more likely
moratorium- doesn’t matter what you had before as long as you have 2 years on cover free from medication treatment advice then pre-existing becomes eligible

if you had an issue with your breast within those first couple of years they will decline it and the ticker starts again for another 2 years to be free of medication treatment or advice before you can try and claim for that pre- existing condition again

I worked in a finance dept in a private hospital for many years, and my advice would be to pay for the maximum amount of outpatient benefit you can afford. It is the thing you are most likely to use, and can mount up extremely quickly. We used to have lots of patients with additional payments to make because they had run out of benefit in a policy year.

I’ve spoken to a broker and although Vitality is cheapest, they recommended Bupa. To be honest, I’ve lots of friends who use Vitality but I have read some negative things online.

Given my history, they recommended I do a full declaration or whatever it’s called, rather than the alternative.

@Redbrook I did ask for full out patient care, assuming that’s unlimited but I will check!

Can someone help me understand this?

So if I chose Bupa’s extendended cover, I would have access to the below hospital (as an example), but if you scroll down, the services are greyed out and do not have a green tick next to them, so does this mean they wouldn’t cover it? I’m lost.

www.finder.bupa.co.uk/Hospital/view/53349/royal_national_ent_hospital

Or that hospital does not have those facilities because it is a specialist ENT centre