HEALTH care insurance - worth it ?

KareenaMukherjee

I've been part of Bupa now for 4 years. I joined when i was 27, and was quoted £55 for the fully comprehensive cover. Didn't have any existing conditions then, so i felt it was pretty reasonable.

I went to see a consultant once, and had a few tests done, because i thought well i'm with BUPA, might as well! Isn't that what having health insurance is about, getting tested straight away. Anyways a few weeks after getting the consultation, and a few tests (everything was all clear), my insurance went up close to 50% to £75!

Now all i had was a single consultation with a consultant, and one blood test. That's all. They claimed they put insurance up because they increase it every year cos i'm getting older (erm this was at 28), and because when they have alot of claims in one year everyones goes up! I thought that reason was fake, and my claim put my insurance up. They deny this.

Now, they've put it up again to £79! I'm really annoyed by this. Never again have i made a claim, and still it goes up. It's nigh on a thousand pounds a year.

If i was to go see a consultant, it would cost me £250, few blood tests here and there say £500. This would be cheaper than the insurance! The only way i will save anything is if something horrendous did happen to me and i needed an operation, then i'm sure it would come in handy.

But even then, how much are operations? If i was to have a hip replacement, how much would one be? Is there a place i can find out the rough cost of operations? Say in 20 years time i needed an operation, when i'm approaching my 50's ... i would have payed close to £25,000 ... and that's not factoring in how the private medical insurance industry would be then, and how much my insurance would go up in that time.

And as we know this is private insurance, i could be paying all these costs and when it comes to actually having an operation and claiming, they'll say oh you didn't declare you had a headache back in 2007' when you joined, or something idiotic like that.

Anyone have any views on this?

mikey72

It's insurance.
On average, you'll alway pay in more than you take out.
If you're ill, you're paying to queue jump, rather than waiting for the NHS.

rs65

KareenaMukherjee wrote: »

But even then, how much are operations?

From my experience in a BUPA hospital for a slipped disc:-

Consultations - 4 @ £170 and 1 @ £225
MRI scans - 2 @ £509
Various physio - £299.74
Surgeon - £896.61
Anaesthetist - £310.00
Operating theatre - £2,463.00
Inpatient services - £431.87
Inpatient accommodation (one night) £381.00

So £6,705.22 for a relatively straight forward procedure.

Only you can decide whether you want to pay private medical cover.