Private health insurance yes or no?

[behappy1736]

I'm really conserving private health insurance. It would be an actors added cost for us but I'm contemplating whether it might be worth it with the current nhs problems and crisis.
So honestly so you think private health insurance is worth it? Why?
And how much do you pay per month? For your Family your self etc?and what provider?
Thank you! 😊

Do you have a log of how much you've used of your £1,800 limit? How do you know what you've used up if you need to make a claim?

@behappy1736 I've used a private GP service through my work place health cash back plan (with BHSF) a couple of times. It worked well both times. The most recent time was the week before Christmas, I called the number at about 11 and had the appointment at about 2 with a GP. I got a code through for a private prescription almost immediately and was able to collect from Boots (they check the code). They do also do video as well as telephone consults but I didn't ask about them so don't know what wait times were.

We also have AXA private health insurance through my husband's work. I haven't used their private GP, but you can make an appointment for an AXA physio assessment by telephone. If they agree you need physio, they can authorise without you needing a GP to refer you. Again, that's worked well.

I also have AXA, I have used it for GP appointments and to arrange physio and acupuncture without going through my GP.

How have I never heard of it? It sounds too good to be true, as others have said.

@Stevie77 Many years ago, you needed to work in the civil service to join Benenden. Now I believe it’s open to everyone. What I like about it, is that it backs up the NHS, so if you can be seen quicker via NHS (unlikely in this age) otherwise you call on Benenden. They don’t cover cardiac or cancer treatment. But most things are covered. Check them out and see what you think. You also get access to GP, Counselling, physio etc. they send a magazine to me a few times a year.

We have Bupa through my husbands work. It has definitely come in useful but the service is not nearly as good as it was a few years ago. Waiting lists much shorter than NHS but we seem to still have to wait for some of the appointments. A few years ago it all seemed to be immediate and very easy to get hold of someone

As a Staff Nurse I can assure you that you will receive the same treatment that the NHS give, you will not get seen in A&E any quicker if you needed to visit there, there are no private A&E units, and I have had patients been very surprised why they were not giving a side room just because they were a private patient.

All this is the Tory party deliberately underfunding, cutting literally every service going, GPS hiding away not seeing patients forcing people to attend A&E. All planned intentional just like the Covid lockdowns to cause the NHS to struggle, lack of recruitment because no one is going to train to be a nurse etc when you now have to pay for your training for such abysmal pay,

@KalvinPhillipsBoots
I have to disagree that you receive the same treatment on the NHS.
Both my children have had medical problems in the last few months. With our Bupa we managed to get an X-ray for my youngest which would not have been offered on the nhs. This has enabled us to diagnose the issue and get a treatment plan in place.
We have also managed to get psychological therapy for my oldest which would never have been available on the NHS.

It worries me how many people are going private, this is what the Tories want...also I be happy to pay privately if our taxes decreased, surely its not fair to epxpect us to pay so much tax yet also have pay privately for a decent health care service?

I have private GP service and AXA private healthcare through work. I pay each month to upgrade to family cover.
The private GP is a god send. Xmas eve my son woke up complaining of sore throat, looked terrible and had been around classmates that had come down with scarlet fever. Booked video call with doctor at 8am and got 11am time with private prescription sent direct to pharmacy and my phone within 10 minutes. Without this I would have spent over 8 hours at my local walk in centre to try and get anti-biotics for the tonsillitis he had or Xmas would have been ruined for him.
The private healthcare we have used for a Frozen Shoulder, Gallstones and grommets for my son.

Does anyone know of private insurance that includes face to face GPS? We have AxA which includes online GP but this is of little use for sick kids, they almost always say go to your NHS GP in person🤦‍♀️

Not for me. My family had it with my husbands job but after he passed away it went too. A relative convinced me to keep it up just for me as I'm a type 1 diabetic. After three years of paying almost £300/month I realised I only claimed on it once, for a dental consultation which I had to pay the first £100 anyway (the bill was £130). So I dropped it.
More recently I went private for my daughter to have an MRI but at the consultation afterwards the doc said she'd get just as good treatment from the NHS, all I did was get the mri faster.

You have to ask and keep a note of this yourself.

I have been forced to go private for dental care, I could not afford the private health care premiums being quoted on this thread as well.

DH recently took some out. It's through Aviva and costs £62 per month for our family of 4.
We get up to 10 consultations per year and access to operations in the event that the NHS can't do them within a certain period of time.
There's a co-pay on some things, I believe.

I recently had a wait of several years to have a gall stone removed and I certainly wouldn't like to go through that again.

The main benefit tbh is that DH suffers health anxiety and the idea of being unable to access NHS care was freaking him out. Since he's had cover, the anxiety has calmed right down. So it's "worth it" for that.

OP - just seeing all the messages re: Benenden. They are very useful, and certainly worth it for the price but they aren’t a ‘proper’ insurance company and therefore lots of things eg: cancer, many orthopaedic surgeries, spinal surgery aren’t covered. I wasn’t aware of this and majorly regretted not having real insurance when DD needed back surgery.

We still have them on top of our regular insurance though as they are great when it comes to quick access to diagnostics/consultants, often a lot faster for us than Bupa as the claims process is far easier.