Private health premiums increased drastically - Vitality Health Insirance

[KindnessisKey]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a HUGE price hike in private health insurance premiums this year?

We took over my corporate health policy when I left 23 years ago and have paid faithfully into it each year and never used it. Until 2021 when I was diagnosed with Stage III cancer.

Understandably treatment for that has cost Vitality (that’s our insurer) an arm and a leg but since last year they have trebled our premiums and this year they want £20,160 per annum for two adults (one who has never used the policy) both just 50 years old.

For clarity it has increased over the 20 year period at a rate above inflation but doable. Prior to and during my cancer diagnosis and then treatment we were paying £6,720 per annum (so £560 per month still a lot!).

My husband is self employed so we pay this out of our own private taxed income. And yes we know it is a luxury rather than a necessity but we are also of the view that taking us out of the NHS relieves the burden on its resources and time for others.

In fact I would say it actually has been a necessity because my GP misdiagnosed me twice over a 7 month period, sending me away on 2 separate occasions, saying there was nothing wrong with me when in fact I had cancer. And during this 7 month period my cancer was progressing at an alarming rate so by the time it was decided that I would dip into my private healthcare for a second opinion I was already Stage III and on the cusp of Stage IV (which would have meant palliative care only). So I have been very lucky (I have two young children age 8 and 10 so I had every reason to keep myself alive!) which had I listened to that GP and not gone back a third time and demanded a referral, I would not be here now. So I have every reason to be very grateful that my husband paid all those years into this policy.

But £20,000 a year just as insurance is exponentially higher. My cancer isn’t a lifestyle choice. My type of cancer is caused by a virus that can change rogue cells to cancer not because I have an unhealthy lifestyle. I eat healthily, I don’t drink, have never smoked and I take regular exercise.

We expect premiums to increase, of course we do, they’re running a business but not to cripple us! This seems completely disproportionate and just unacceptable.

Vitality has us over a barrel. I’ve only just recovered and the future is by no way certain, we have paid in to that policy for 23 years (over £100,000) and now they’re going to make it impossible for us to stay. It is appalling.

I am in remission now (in my 3rd year) so my annual costs for the scans that I have to have until I reach 5 years cancer free will be £2,250 (I am lucky that my cancer is highly curable even at stage III). And for that they want £20,000. But if we let the policy go I will never get insurance again and, yes, I can go into the NHS system but then why have I paid faithfully for the last 23 years hoping that this policy would take me into my old age?

Please be kind… yes private health is a luxury but we have chosen to do without other things in life in order to afford this and having had cancer it has been worth its weight in gold but to be punished like this as a cancer patient is just unacceptable.

Insurance companies all get their pound of flesh in the end… shameful.

They're there to make a profit. And the older you get the more likely you are to eat into the profit, hence the rising premiums. In your situation in a purely monetary way, I don't think trebling the premiums is unreasonable.

Good luck when it’s your turn to get cancer then @RedHelenB Hopefully you won’t find that unreasonable!!

Commiserations, OP. That sounds crazy.

Somebody I know has a French Bulldog, and pet insurance. The dog has needed some treatment and now the insurers want £400 per month to continue to insure the dog. My friend has had to cancel the insurance.

We just have Benenden now and it is a set price of £15 a month, just for referrals and tests / scans and minor surgeries though.

It's not for profit healthcare, but a mutual so does not increase.

You can’t move insurance companies with pre-existing conditions to be covered but you could get another type of insurance coverage with same company. Also, maybe ask for quotes if you have separate policy coverage?
The issue to be aware once you hit 50…all insurance goes up.
Use moneysupermarket.com for quotes to compare.

You've claimed for cancer and you’ve both reached 50 - both factors will increase your premiums.

Have you tried negotiating with them? I’ve had success negotiating car insurance but with pet insurance the company wouldn’t budge.

Gosh, poor things. It’s crazy. We all understand these insurance companies have to make a profit but it should not be unreasonable. After all they insure themselves against us so they understand that some of us will make a claim and some of will pay in all our lives and not use it. So they make money but to them punish those who have had to use it legitimately by such HUGE margins is simply unacceptable.

I hope your friends dog makes a full recovery snd is ok. We cancelled our last spaniels insurance having paid in for years and then 2 years later he was ill and our bills eventually were £17k in total (yikes!) but what can you do? The vets are so expensive nowadays… that’s whole other topic!!

The insurance ombudsman should be policing these matters more, these companies especially health insurance since the pandemic have been taking it in because people couldn’t get appointments on the NHS. It’s a pretty poor show really in their behalf when people’s health is at stake.

Husband is going to try that today but I think it’s unlikely they’ll budge.

Yes fully understand another kind person has posted a non profit that might be very useful for others (doubt they’d take me) but what a refreshing idea to have a non profit organisation for health insurance!

This is so interesting @Orangesandlemons77 thank you so much! I’ll let my husband know as might be a great option for him and our young children. Very much doubting they’d take me as I’m hardly a good bet anymore understandably 😂

I find @RedHelenB ‘s comment to be wholly thoughtless and pointless. I imagine her mother never told her “if you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all!” 🤣

thank you for posting this info, it’s really helpful for everyone! 🤗

Hi Op, I don’t really have anything helpful to contribute but well done for beating cancer. My DH went to our gp several times before he even got referred to the local hospital (took about a year). By then he had stage four. The first rounds of chemo got rid of it. Then it came back, he had many many other rounds and treatments including radiotherapy. In the end he had a stem cell transplant. His consultant where he had this done was brilliant. She thought that the cost of his treatment had he have to pay for it would have been upwards of 500k.

Hes still here, two years into remission and I am so grateful to the NHS. We are so lucky to have them.

I Don’t have anything useful to add about the cost of your premiums, I’m so sorry. I hope you can find what’s right for you and your family. Well done for being in your third year of remission. X

This is exactly what will happen when the NHS goes.
people think private health is cheap until they need to use it. Then it rapidly mounts up and suddenly no one wants to cover you.

it’s probably because it’s vitality as well, other companies that are dearer to start with are less likely to hike it up.

so sorry you’re going through this.

Thank you @GenerousGardener I am so sorry your husband has had such a terrible time, really you both have, because cancer doesn’t just happen to the person that has it. Being the other half of that is a huge and worrying burden. I hope you’re ok too. Your husband’s consultant’s guess is probably quite conservative! I can see what my treatment has cost to date and although it isn’t near to what your husband’s is, the NHS costs won’t be much less than the private clinics. It’s just that we don’t see the costs of NHS treatment. I am so hugely respectful of the NHS, I genuinely don’t know how they do it all.

I am so glad to hear your husband is in remission, it must be a relief for you both as the treatment and recovery are almost worse than the actual cancer!

Wishing you both great health for the future, I know in the scheme of things the price of my ins premiums are of minuscule importance in regards to my health but I just feel when people have saved hard and tried to do the right thing it’s quite awful to be punished by these huge profit making organisations. But sadly the way it is nowadays.

I will of course always have the option of reverting my care back to the wonderful NHS but when I got cancer in 2021 it was the tail end of the pandemic and as we all know the NHS was under huge stress - it seemed the right thing to do to take myself out of that and pay for my care so someone else in need could have my place in the NHS to stop the queues being so long.

Thank you for popping by to say hello, sending love both you way! 🤗

We have been with AXA for over 20 years and premiums for 4 of us were about per year £5,000. I’ve changed policies for myself and 2 adult DS, still with AXA, but kept my husband on his policy as he had a triple heart bypass 4 years ago, so understandably we won’t change his. We now have a no claims policy, which I know will cost more if we do have to claim, but we’ve saved nearly £2,000 per year doing this. We’ve also got excess of £1,000 which again not ideal, but has lowered the premium.

It’s a scary thought isn’t it, that one day we might not have the NHS. My elderly aunt lives in the US and the system over there is horrendous if you can’t afford to pay.

I mean we all understand that, for instance, if you have a car accident and it’s your fault then your car ins goes up a bit. But it’s very unlikely to be trebled in price!

BUPA, Axa and Vitality seem to be the big 3. We changed from Axa as Vitality offered a better deal at the time. All the premiums are now being worked on a scale basis if you claim so for instance BUPA is more expensive each month but maybe their premiums haven’t escalated as sharply as mine but in the end works out the same… Hey ho, I can’t change now! Nobody will have me 😂

But we have to think logically, if all our premiums become so high they’re no longer affordable that means thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of extra people back into the NHS who can barely cope at capacity now! It certainly is a worrying time.

We pay £127 per month for two adults (early 40's) and a child. With Vitality also.

It seems crazy that you are paying £20k a year in comparison with the same insurer.

I felt forced into private healthcare - not because I don't want a healthcare system like the NHS. It should be fit for purpose and support everybody equally. But the Tories shafted it. This is a side note but I didn't vote Tory - as I knew what it meant for the NHS. Yet people I know who voted Tory are complaining about the state of the NHS yet not coughing up for private health insurance and it boils my piss. I think if you vote Tory you should be prepared to pay £20k a year in health insurance premiums, because it is exactly what the Tories believe in.

So anyway, yes OP you are being shafted, but the only way out of this is not voting Tory.

I have private medical insurance as a perk through work. I actually run the scheme. There are 8 people currently on our policy ( senior staff only) and if any one of those staff makes a claim then the insurance for ALL the members increases! This is making everyone think twice about using the health insurance. Obviously if you use it, you expect your own premium to increase, but in this situation you are having to think if that claim is worth increasing everyone else’s premium.
(Obviously although the cover is ‘free’ for each member, we will get taxed on the premium payable.)

I'm going to come back to this thread when I've got more time but I've been absolutely appalled with Vitality over the last six months. I'll be back.

Yes our excess has been £500 so we’ll be changing that and as you say my husband is looking to change him and the children potentially to another policy, just all the laborious admin to do it we could do without! And £1000 excess is actually a good idea because I wouldn’t have used my policy for anything under that anyway prior to this!

Its almost tempting to go back to work to get a company family policy like I used to have… 😂 as my husband is self employed we don’t have that lovely umbrella of corporate health anymore!

And whilst I moan about the price hike, I can’t fault Vitality these last 3 years. They have just paid every bill without any problem which when you’re that ill you just need someone to do all the admin whilst I tried to stay alive and my husband tried to look after the children the dogs the house and run his business, poor chap! I thank my lucky stars for him! ♥️

Do give them a call and speak to a broker. I’m with vitality and mine is £3000 for 4 of us with £1000 excess but full central London cover.

Gosh that’s a worry isn’t it! And hardly seems fair?

Yes we are full London cover too, had all my treatment at The Royal Marsden who, as we all know are incredible.

I think my husband will look into a separate policy for and the children and see if that helps. Long may your policy stay at £3000, a veritable bargain! Mind you we were only double that up until recently (wonder why we were double? Mmm? Hadn’t ever used it so that’s a mystery). I say only double like that’s ok… but now being hit with £20k it seems like it!

Husband will be calling them today so I’ll report back once we see how they justify the increase…

I really don't see what the issue is here. You have paid for insurance, which has given you a lot of cover during your working life, and then you've used it to pay for private medical treatment. Of course they're going to put your premiums up. Insurance is something you pay for that you hope you're never going to have to use - but there's a cost to using it.

I'm very sorry, obviously, about your cancer diagnosis, and I'm glad you're in remission.

But you really do need to understand that private medical insurance - like any other insurance - is a business.

For context, our car and home/contents insurance both increased by 30% this year, despite no claims.

As PP have said, the best thing you can do now is to shop around, but with a pre-existing condition/diagnosis (especially as serious a one as cancer) is always going to mean higher premiums.

Oh no, I’m so sorry you’ve had a rubbish time with Vitality.

Obviously I’m having a harrumph with them right now with this price hike (more like a price hijack!!!) but I’ve not had one problem with them during my treatment other than they’re completely user unfriendly website and the odd 45 min waiting on a call (but that was only in the beginning as once you are a cancer patient you get your own private person who looks after your account so that doesn’t happen anymore - you have a direct number and private email).