The Best Health Insurance + Health Check Up provider

ellyroo

Hey so i want to go private , as the NHS doesn't provide health check ups for people in my age group, and i generally want to be healthy and fit but have my health monitored too!

so one option i was looking at is going with vitality health insurance + nuffield 360+ check ups once to twice a year , and the option does look very appealing but i wonder if there is better alternatives out there?

i'm happy enough to spend the 350 pounds on the health check ups, but i dont want to be running into things over 600 a pop.

ideally: I want a service that provides me a very through health check twice a year, with a doctor i can be sure of, with a good service, some advice on the side would be great too, but just something that means i am looked after

MonkeyDr

What do you actually want from a health check up?

No non-invasive investigations, however much you spend, will ever be able to promise that you don't have something lurking somewhere. And invasive investigations have consequences of their own (e.g. 1 in 1000 people having a CT scan will develop a cancer as a result of the radiation from the scan). Any invasive investigations should only be undertaken weighing the potential risks and benefits into account.

Scattergun approaches are unhelpful and my personal opinion is that companies who offer them prey on people's fears.

If you have symptoms you are worried about go and see your GP. If you have specific concerns, maybe if something runs in your family etc, also go and see your GP.

Otherwise, here is my free medical health check-up advice:
Maintain healthy BMI
Don't smoke
Don't drink to excess
Don't take drugs
Follow a healthy balanced diet, without too much salt / refined sugar / processed crap (occasional treats are fine)
Do regular moderate exercise
Maintain good dental hygiene
Do whatever works for you to stay mentally healthy (if able)

(Or if you really want to send me £350 i'm happy to offer up my PayPal details)

Edited to add: sorry I can't help with the private question, but although I think that the NHS is pretty amazing, I do understand why people like the convenience of private. But I certainly wouldn't equate it with 'better'. DOI: NHS dr and patient. No private cover for me or my family.

ellyroo

MonkeyDr wrote: »

What do you actually want from a health check up?

No non-invasive investigations, however much you spend, will ever be able to promise that you don't have something lurking somewhere. And invasive investigations have consequences of their own (e.g. 1 in 1000 people having a CT scan will develop a cancer as a result of the radiation from the scan). Any invasive investigations should only be undertaken weighing the potential risks and benefits into account.

Scattergun approaches are unhelpful and my personal opinion is that companies who offer them prey on people's fears.

If you have symptoms you are worried about go and see your GP. If you have specific concerns, maybe if something runs in your family etc, also go and see your GP.

Otherwise, here is my free medical health check-up advice:
Maintain healthy BMI
Don't smoke
Don't drink to excess
Don't take drugs
Follow a healthy balanced diet, without too much salt / refined sugar / processed crap (occasional treats are fine)
Do regular moderate exercise
Maintain good dental hygiene
Do whatever works for you to stay mentally healthy (if able)

(Or if you really want to send me £350 i'm happy to offer up my PayPal details)

Edited to add: sorry I can't help with the private question, but although I think that the NHS is pretty amazing, I do understand why people like the convenience of private. But I certainly wouldn't equate it with 'better'. DOI: NHS dr and patient. No private cover for me or my family.

like from a health check up, just like a good ... kind of all round one? that will tell me how my body and everything in general is doing, and if there is anything to be caught, at least it'll be caught before it causes issues?

i'm improving myself and eating a ton better too (infact i might be eating too much fruits!)

i just kind of want something that is peace of mind, i dont trust my Dr as he's had a good few cases of bad practice and i dont want to get bitten again if i switch dr's

MonkeyDr

Ok, I guess I'm saying that no quick scattergun of tests is legitimately going to be able to tell you how your body in general is doing. And even less give you anything to do about it beyond the general things I have already listed (which we should all do).

What sort of thing do you think might be caught early? Serious question. i'm guessing you are young and female. Honestly, of course there might be some really rare stuff that could be lurking in you, but these cheap tests won't pick those up. Just about the only vaguely common, asymptomatic and treatable thing I could think of that might be picked up would be high blood pressure, and you could buy yourself a machine for £20 if you really wanted to. Make sure you have your smear tests when called.

I'm sorry that you don't trust your GP. However, my advice would still be to only investigate any symptoms or specific concerns you have, and you could change to a different GP if necessary?

Try and have a think about exactly what you want to find out.
Whether you have cancer? These checks won't be able to tell you that.
Your cardiovascular disease risk? high blood pressure might be picked up but see my point above. Maybe high cholesterol too if right blood test done, but first line management would be dietary / exercise anyway. You can't change family inherited risks, and exercise, stopping smoking (if appropriate) would be recommended anyway.
Abnormal heart rhythm? vanishingly rare. ECG might pick it up, but if you are worried because of family history or symptoms you should get one anyway.

Sadly a panel of tests that guarantees peace of mind simply doesn't exist. It is entirely up to you how you spend your money, but I think these companies offering such a thing are unethical.

Red-Squirrel_2

You might be better to see a CBT practitioner for help with health anxiety.

ellyroo

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

You might be better to see a CBT practitioner for help with health anxiety.

got an appointment on the 11th

Also my main worry is ending up with cancer or something like an aneuyrysm or such and they freak me out a ton and i just want something to take some of the load off

Red-Squirrel_2

ellyroo wrote: »

got an appointment on the 11th

Also my main worry is ending up with cancer or something like an aneuyrysm or such and they freak me out a ton and i just want something to take some of the load off

CBT, definitely. Illness anxiety disorder is a recognised condition and it can make you miserable. You don't need any interventions or tests for your physical health, you need help with your mental health so that you aren't worrying about cancer or aneurysms unnecessarily and can get on with enjoying life!

https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/anxiety-type/health-anxiety/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/health-anxiety/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/27/health-anxiety-on-the-increase

MonkeyDr

ellyroo wrote: »

Also my main worry is ending up with cancer or something like an aneuyrysm or such and they freak me out a ton and i just want something to take some of the load off

I agree with Red Squirrel, although I hope it may help if I give a little more detail about brain aneurysms. I quite understand why they freak people out, but that doesn't mean that screening is rational.

- you would need a special sort of MRI or CT scan to look for them; certainly wouldn't be included in a standard cheap 'health check'. Both scans have side effects of their own.

- only aneurysms over a certain size would be picked up. Could still be one growing...

- but the real issue is what do you do if you see one? Ok, a massive one imminently about to burst requires treatment. But knowing what to do with smaller ones is really tricky. Because the 'treatment' is brain surgery, with a whole host of severe and common risks. And we think that lots and lots of the general population (maybe up to 1 in 20) have smaller aneurysms that will never burst and never cause symptoms.

As it happens a relative of mine died of a burst brain aneurysm. I have been offered screening on the NHS, looked carefully at the risks and benefits and decided against it. The chance of my having a significant one is still very low. If I know there is a small one there I could either have surgery (with significant risks attached - could leave me unable to work, look after my kids etc) or I would just have to live knowing it was there, which really would make me anxious... I am entirely at peace with my choice, and everyone else in my family has read around and come to the same decision.

I hope that the CBT helps.

MD

jenniewb

OP I doubt a health check would help you here; if you are experiencing anxiety without reason (meaning nothing has occurred in the past to mean you are very likely to have Cancer and at a younger age than most) then I'd place bets on you ignoring the all clear after a month or two and wanting a test all over again. It's not the fear of an illness itself, you fearing an illness sounds more like you are putting all your worries onto something and focusing on that rather than what is actually really bothering you.


If I were you I'd not just look for CBT which, if you can find a good therapist you can trust, deals with the symptoms of anxiety well, but also find a more analytical or counselling type of therapy to try to work out what is really going on because until you deal with it, it'll keep on worrying you and depending on how bad things are, really take control of your life.


Get help as soon as you feel able to (that may mean finding someone privately if other types of talk therapy aren't possible where you live) and try if possible to not give into any of the anxieties you are experiencing by placating them or doing what they feel like they need you to do because if one thing is certain, it will be like adding lighter fluid to a bon-fire; the anxieties will just grow and become more entangled and you'd end up with even more to work through which can be a problem if you are on limited sessions with whichever therapy you are able to receive.

sheramber

A health test only tells you the position at the time, not what develops tomorrow or next week or next month.

panagia

ellyroo wrote: »

i'm happy enough to spend the 350 pounds on the health check ups, but i dont want to be running into things over 600 a pop.

ideally: I want a service that provides me a very through health check twice a year, with a doctor i can be sure of, with a good service, some advice on the side would be great too, but just something that means i am looked after

Moneysupermarket.com has information about private health insurance, it might be worth checking on there?

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/health-insurance/