Medical insurance. How much per month?

[Deleted User]

DH is going to retire in 3 months and we will naturally lose benefits such as private health insurance via ppp. I am going to start our own savings fund specifically for healthcare and such things as might crop up later in life ie maybe mole removal, knee replacement etc

Speaking to a doctor on a train one day, she said that it is best to save up and then you can choose where and when and what-for, because the likes of bupa are restrictive as well as expensive

My question is what is the average fee per month for a healthy 60 year old? I have no idea. The tesco healthcare says £47 for the better plan for any age but I have a feeling that bupa would cost a lot more

I am kick-starting the fund with a £2000 lump sum from a NR bond which has just matured and I have set up a standing order to place £100 pm into the account from april. I want to place the approximate bupa cost in there pm so would appreciate some replies

I am googling as I speak and have found this. Is it realistic as a guide?
http://society.guardian.co.uk/privatehealthcare/story/0,,811521,00.html

[Deleted User]

I found a site and got a ppp quote for a middle of the range package for myself alone. Yikes it is £114 pm and £142 pm for a better package

I`ll have to re-vamp my standing order. We`ll need to save about £2600 a year. Oh well, camping here we come!!

Biggles

It all depends what kind of cover you want, Tesco saying £47 is no use unless you know exactly what it covers.

Some of the cheaper policies (I can't afford total cover!) pay for private care if the NHS can't see you within 6 weeks. The one I'm with now covers everything immediately, except it doesn't cover outpatient appointments, and is £112pm for the two of us. Outpatient appointments we pay for ourselves and are typically under £100 a time.

I now get mine through a broker (http://www.preferredmedical.co.uk/), they get quotes from all the insurance firms for you and advise you on the various options. I found it a minefield previously but these are very helpful.

missile

I would suggest you would be far better and cheaper saving your cash and paying for whatever treatment you may require in the future.

Have you ever tried claiming from PPP? Only then will you find out how "good" their cover really is.

judderman62

Interesting to hear that about PPP - they hounded me for about 18 months - 2years with repeated junk mail. I wrote to them several times asking them to stop.

Eventually it got to the point where I wrote again, sending it recorded so I could prove it was received, and then when they still persisted I passed it on to the Data protection folks and they actually sent an officer to PPP to ensure they stopped.

Never heard from them again

This was years ago.

Bossyboots

Some of the insurance companies have a follow on scheme where they will insure you for pre-existing conditions if you are moving from a corporate scheme.

As a guide to BUPA, I am currently paying £60 a month to be joined to my OH's corporate scheme.

I would say about BUPA though their claiming process is a doddle and if you give your treating consultant and hospital the code BUPA give you then they can claim direct.

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone. I will not be getting medical insurance from any provider but I will be saving for both of us in a savings account instead. I think I will stick with the £100 pm for a while and review the situation when income settles over the next 5 years. I think I will aim to get about 20k into that account over time, maybe by adding more, when various bonds mature and that will probably do as a safety net fund

Biggles

I will not be getting medical insurance from any provider but I will be saving for both of us in a savings account instead. I think I will stick with the £100 pm for a while and review the situation when income settles over the next 5 years. I think I will aim to get about 20k into that account over time, maybe by adding more, when various bonds mature and that will probably do as a safety net fund

I'm a great believer in self-insuring, but there are instances where I wouldn't do it. Health insurance is one of them. You've got to look at the worst-case scenario: private healthcare can become very, very expensive in a short period of time and I really wouldn't want to be in the position of going into debt, possibly hugely, because I hadn't insured. In the world of healthcare costs, I would hardly call £20,000 a safety net. It's more like a basic minimum. Think of the liability as being open-ended.

EdInvestor

It's worth noting that even if you are insured it often won't cover the costs of a private operation.There will be a large "excess" because the insurers now impose standard limits on what they will pay. Since you have no control over any extras your doctor/surgeon/anaesthetist may order up, be warned.

I second missile's comments about the problems of claiming.

Bossyboots

EdInvestor wrote:

It's worth noting that even if you are insured it often won't cover the costs of a private operation.There will be a large "excess" because the insurers now impose standard limits on what they will pay. Since you have no control over any extras your doctor/surgeon/anaesthetist may order up, be warned.

I second missile's comments about the problems of claiming.

Mine's the other way around. An operation is likely to be covered in all but very limited circumsances whereas return visits to the consultant and more than a certain value of tests aren't. With BUPA, the costs are met provided you use a consultant/anaethetist registered with them as they will have already agreed to conform to BUPA's pricing scale. I was actually told that a limit of £145 for my anaethetist would be applied for my operation and I would have to pay the rest. In fact, he charged £185 and BUPA paid it all. Apart from that, all the costs of my operation were paid for as well including a pre-op check.

In response to Biggles' post, I would echo this. I had what is a routine operation. The costs of consultant appointments and the operation came to nearly £2000. This was to occupy a bed for six hours, one meal and a 20 minute procedure in theatre plus test results.

Biggles

Certainly I pay an excess, like most insurance policies, in this case it's the first £100 in any year.

After that, I have full cover (apart from the exceptions mentioned) without any limit or cutoff point. I have just made a claim and the paperwork was quickly sorted out prior to my admission for a minor day procedure, so I have no worries about having to pay and claim it back, the insurers pay the hospital direct. So far, I haven't even been asked for the excess, though I'm sure I soon will be!

Possibly using a broker, as I did, means the insurers have already been 'vetted' for you to some extent.