Self insurance instead of private health insurance

[Itsbeenalongoldday]

I’m 56 and DH is 61, 2 ds 21 current premium £320 per month.
we moved from Axa to saga health insurance 3 years ago as premiums went through the roof. We have claimed nothing in first two years and in year 3 1 claim of around £2,5k with excess of £250 per person whicj we agreed last time to keep monthly charge down. Renewal coming up and premium increase substantially to £500 per month, when questioning they say due to age and claim this year that premiums have increased but we have claimed less than we paid for the year.
We've thought before about cancelling but cautious as lots of cancer in DH family side but somehow seems stupid to pay £5k a year for something we’re unlikely to use and if we do use it it just ups the next years premiums.
thinking of putting aside the same amount each month in case of a health problem but living in london NHS has been v good to us.
Any thoughts ?

just wondering what you have decided to do. Our premium increased to 9200 per year from 7600. This is with a 500 excess
I’m 61 and DH is 63

@harrysally will kept you posted - it’s mad amounts have you claimed this year ?

Why not join Benenden? £15.99 per month, covers most common operations & tests other than joint replacements, heart & brain surgery. Then bank whatever you would have been paying knowing that unless it is something major you are covered, there are no.pre existing conditions & you can claim after a year.

Depending on the cover, self insurance might only work for smaller things, like your previous £2500 claim. A friend of mine has had her cancer treatment fully funded through work health insurance over 2 years and that has been hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Thats the thing with insurance you may never use it, you may have put in 1k and make a claim worth 100k putting aside 5k in the next year won't cover cancer treatment in full if it was needed. Ultimately you are a higher risk and as your not insured as part of a bigger group such as a workforce the risk isn't balanced out across the group. Insurance companies load the premiums of individuals too because your more likely to claim
Ultimately the balance/decision is can you afford it, do you want to pay it and contemplate that against the risk of needing it if you were seriously ill and/or needed an operation
Things you already know, but its hard to say put the money aside or pay your insurance because you just don't know what will happen or how much it'll cost!

Have you tried significantly increasing your excess (perhaps to 3-5K)? It can sometimes bring down premiums noticeably. Then save, alongside paying premiums, so you have the excess available if needed.

Benenden was mentioned earlier. Although it's a good product, it only offers a very limited number of operations (after 24 months membership), and none that require a hospital stay over 24 hrs.

we made several small claims last year totalling less than 2 k. To be honest I’m a bit scared of cancelling it

Benenden is very good but limited in scope. It covers general surgery and diagnostics, but it doesn't cover things like cancer cover, orthopedic or maxillofacial surgery.

Self insurance only works if you've built up a decent amount before you need to claim. It's not much use of you suddenly need a major operation and you've only been saving for three months.

Actual insurance will be there for you however soon you need to claim.

After talking to insurer looks like best option if we want to stay covered at similar rate is to do a 4 week nhs wait option. Apparently this means you are consultant privately and have diagnostic tests as private then any procedure eg new hip that’s needed gets sent to those above and if it cannot be done on nhs within 4 weeks then you carry on privately as normal. Things like chemo and radiotherapy are covered immediately but an op wouldn’t be so maybe if you need surgery pre chemo you would have this on nhs but then chemo and drugs etc privately
tbh my main fear is needing an op like a new knee and being in pain for 2 years on nhs or getting cancer and not being able to have. Certain drugs so this sounds like a good compromise and will cost around £800 a year more instead of £1600 more which is their requote.
Will keep you posted !