Should I ditch my Bupa health insurance due to cost?

fantasyvn

Could you pls advise?

I have a Bupa health insurance package, which covers my wife, my son and me.

Apparently my employer pay £5000 per year while I pay another £2,000 in tax.

Since I got it two years ago, I only used it twice.

So I was wondering whether I should continue or not. Will I be better off by directly paying for private doctors only when I need it?

Thank you.

londonTiger

money better spent on a pension plan IMO

**professor~yaffle**

Personally I'd err on the side of caution. Private medical bills, depending on what is wrong with you, can be extortionately expensive. I'd rather pay medical insurance (and hope I never need it) than not pay and find i do need it.

fantasyvn

Thank you for your advice so far. I would love to hear more from others to have a decision.

sophlowe45

**professor~yaffle** wrote: »

Personally I'd err on the side of caution. Private medical bills, depending on what is wrong with you, can be extortionately expensive. I'd rather pay medical insurance (and hope I never need it) than not pay and find i do need it.

Same as above.

brook2jack

My partner has health insurance which covers me as well. I am self employed so it has meant I can plan operations etc around work ,and am certain they won't be cancelled, rescheduled and its much cheaper than if I paid for it myself.

Also if you were going to take medical insurance out in future you may be excluded for the conditions you had treated on this insurance.

However my parents in law have given theirs up and saved their premiums as their ill health and age have meant their premiums have rocketed.

To allow you to think of a budget, just a day stay in a private hospital will be £900 ish per day, anaesthetists fees £300, x rays start around £150, mri £600 , surgeons fees start at £150 for consultation, £400 ish operation. Physio £60 a session.

So if you are putting money away bear in mind potential costs if you still want to go private.

fantasyvn

Hi brook2jack, thank you for your excellent advice.

May I ask when you need to be hospitalized, will it be "easy" to be referred to a private hospital? For example, will a GP prefer to send you to an NHS hospital instead?

Thank you

welshdent

Your GP should be able to refer you to wherever you wish to go. Normally you would inform them and you tell them who to refer you to and then you contact your insurer to let them know etc.

pimento

I would keep it. My husband is two goes into a six course chemotherapy series that might (hopefully) be followed by an operation. So far, I have seen bills totalling just shy of £25k. They haven't billed for the consultant, the BUPA chemo at home or the remaining four courses of chemo yet.

I fully expect we will have a £100k claim by the time it is all totalled up. He is getting a drug that is deemed too expensive for NHS patients.

Our health insurance (from my employer) is worth every brass farthing in tax that it has cost me. Every last penny.

lessonlearned

As above.

Private health care saved my husband's life.

2 weeks to see a neurologist. NHS wait was 11 weeks.

He would have died waiting.

cherylsurrey

Have you thought of going to an insurance broker and finding out how much a health insurance plan would be for you to pay yourself, which is what I did. They searched all the plans and found the best one for me. The amount your employer is paying sounds way over the odds.

Health insurance for me and my husband has literally been a lifesaver, we pay £185 a month for the two of us (very comprehensive plan with good coverage) and would not want to give it up.