Taxable benefit: Bupa healthcare

tabbiecatz

I am currently being taxed for a company Bupa policy (which I can opt out of). The company pays £1,409.16 for the policy.

I am a basic rate tax payer, so I calculate that I am paying 20% of £1409.16, which is £281.83 per year.

I've had issues with the level of cover I have (which also covers my partner). She had an issue where Bupa wouldn't cover more than a certain number of consultations for a particular treatment, meaning she would have had to pay for further consultations in there entirety (very expensive). Today I called Bupa to get pre-auth for some treatment I have been referred for and was informed that they would only cover one consultation, that's it. I also discovered that there is an excess of £100 all of a sudden.

So if the above calculation is correct, for my new referral with an excess of £100, which I will definitely need to pay in full, this year I am paying at least £381.83 for Bupa. And I will be paying a lot more since they will only cover one consultation, which I know is not going to be enough.

My partner has never used the Bupa since the last incident, so it's a waste of money covering her.

I looked at a fully comp bupa policy and it would cost me £350 to set it up myself, which this year would be cheaper for me by a long way (since it covers a lot more than one consultation).


Should I opt out of my company bupa cover and go it alone? Have I missed something?

PavlosEgg

I would say it depends on how much you value the benefit. Have you compared the full policy documents in detail? In my experience a fully comp personal policy will still not be as good as a comp corporate policy. I think the consultation thing is standard for a corporate policy - not sure why it differs on a personal one.

It is all down to your risk attitude. I mean, if you know you are going to need treatment in the next twelve months then it is obviously worth having a policy, but if not and you think it would be a waste of money for your partner, then would it not be a waste for you too? Also, the corporate policy would only cost you more if you actually claimed on it.

PMI prices are increasing, and will continue to. My company has a couple cover level of over £2k, so has given us an alternative cash plan that they fund up to family cover (as the cost of this is less than the already funded single cover PMI). Have you though about an alternative like a cash plan policy? This would cover you for more preventative things, and probably gets you cash back on unlimited consultations. It may also reimburse you for dental and optical treatment - but not major surgeries.

As I said it's all down to what you use the policy for, and whether you are willing to risk not being covered for the year. In my mind a PMI policy is beneficial for treatment with long NHS waiting times, but not much else. Others will disagree.

The chances are you haven't missed anything regarding the price - corporate policies can often have much higher than average claims, meaning they need bigger funds. It's unfortunately cyclicle when people spending a lot on their corporate policy feel they need to claim to 'justify' the cost.

opinions4u

Insurance is always a waste of money until you need to claim on it. Excess isn't uncommon and no insurer is going to offer unlimited cover or encourage users to get second, third and fourth opinions at their expense.

Although your premiums seem a tad high, certainly more than double what my employer used to pay, I valued the cover highly. Even though I only claimed once. As I age and wither I may live to regret the career change that saw me give up the cover.

For me, even at the price you quote, I'd stick with it. For both of you. And if you are hospitalised on the NHS it may well pay a fixed amount per night too.

You just never know when you'll need it.

withabix

The cost is high because it covers the OP's partner as well.

Different corporate policies have different restrictions, different limits and different excesses. Mine has zero excess and covers pre-existing conditions, but other employers may have paid for different things.

If you don't want to pay £280 tax per year (even worse when you are in 40% bracket), then go back to the good old NHS, take out a personal PMI policy which will cost you more for less and may not cover pre-existing conditions) or drop your partner's cover.

Those are your choices.

My advice: NHS or stick with what you've already got.

tabbiecatz

Thanks all.

somethingcorporate

Still seems a high premium but I guess it depends on the level of cover and size of employer.

My BUPA cover through work is myself, my spouse and is £1k pa with £100 excess on claims.

Wutang_2

More than likely its high for two reasons:

Bupa are a joke for pricing (and a joke company),

and Group Schemes are often higher due to someone claiming on the policy (you all pay for it).

zagfles

tabbiecatz wrote: »

I am currently being taxed for a company Bupa policy (which I can opt out of). The company pays £1,409.16 for the policy.

I am a basic rate tax payer, so I calculate that I am paying 20% of £1409.16, which is £281.83 per year.

I've had issues with the level of cover I have (which also covers my partner). She had an issue where Bupa wouldn't cover more than a certain number of consultations for a particular treatment, meaning she would have had to pay for further consultations in there entirety (very expensive).

Have you asked if it's possible to switch to the NHS? Same thing happened to someone I know, he was seeing a consultant privately under his work health insurance, but because he required ongoing monitoring the insurance refused to pay after a while.

He phoned the consultant's secretary explaining this and offering to pay himself, and she just said "no need to pay, why not just see him on the NHS"? He said he didn't want to join a long waiting list, but she said that wouldn't happen, he's already "in the system", and booked him an appointment at his NHS clinic within a few days of the date he'd have got if he'd stayed private!

Today I called Bupa to get pre-auth for some treatment I have been referred for and was informed that they would only cover one consultation, that's it. I also discovered that there is an excess of £100 all of a sudden.

So if the above calculation is correct, for my new referral with an excess of £100, which I will definitely need to pay in full, this year I am paying at least £381.83 for Bupa. And I will be paying a lot more since they will only cover one consultation, which I know is not going to be enough.

My partner has never used the Bupa since the last incident, so it's a waste of money covering her.

I looked at a fully comp bupa policy and it would cost me £350 to set it up myself, which this year would be cheaper for me by a long way (since it covers a lot more than one consultation).


Should I opt out of my company bupa cover and go it alone? Have I missed something?

One thing about company policies is they're usually a lot better if you have pre-existing medical conditions. Mine will cover all pre-existing conditions, with a waiting period of 12 months for new joiners. This is because you're lumped in together will all (or most) other employees, rather than possibly someone who only takes out a policy because they know they're likely to claim.

Mine also provides medical insurance for holidays abroad, again with no exclusions like pre-existing conditions (or other nasties like being "under the influence of alcohol"), and is better cover than the medical section of any travel insurance (it includes repatriation etc).

fannyadams

your company should give you a P11D which will tell you how much value the BUPA thing is worth, then the tax man knows how much to tax you on your benefit in kind. He MAY have even got it right on your tax notice (stranger things have happened).
At my old company we had AXA PPP and on my P11D it said as a benefit in kind it was £248, but the company obviously paid more than that to 'insure' me.
and don't think that it's a nice thing for your company to do for you.
It really just means that if you have somethign wrong with you and you need to get seen then you aren't languishing at home on the sick but are able to get seen and get back to work quicker, which at the end of the day is what the company want people at work not people on the sick.