Health Insurance into & through retirement

cfw1994

Been reading a couple of recent posts touching on this, but the only (old!) topics had no real replies, so thought it warrants a thread of it’s own.
TL/DR: what are the views here around healthcare provisions as one ages?

We have BUPA healthcare through my work (now with £100 excess....) plus a dental plan with our long-time dentist (but younger than me )
I have had recent use of NHS for emergency eye care: misdiagnosed at one small A&E...correctly assessed at specialist major city NHS eye clinic a day later and very rapidly lasered :eek:
I do have reasonable faith in our NHS for major things, but it did illustrate how we would want to be based near somewhere with major facilities (the A&E was a popular retirement destination....but not somewhere I would now chose to live!)

We do have an elderly relative (almost 90) who may soon need to have full time care, but the NHS care through various “episodes” to date has really been very good, and with some thought to their home facilities in advance, they could have helped themselves more in the first place....so late-life care is something I feel would have to come out of the house value..

I have used our work BUPA in the distant past for less major things, but with hindsight feel that the specialists who saw us worked NHS anyway, but with less time for patients, but really the care would almost certainly have been good enough with NHS (my recent laser aftercare was very good)

My thinking is that it is likely cost-prohibitive....& I haven’t put much thought into it beyond that.....

Curious about useful plans people may have chosen, etc.

ibizafan_2

We have belonged to Benenden Health for many years, although we haven’t had to use its services yet. Originally for civil servants, it recently became available to anyone. Although not as comprehensive as BUPA, it is a good compromise and a very reasonable cost. I also have a dental plan, payable monthly, but I sometimes wonder whether it would be more cost effective to pay as you go, as does my OH, as I rarely have to have anything done.

lisyloo

Will become increasingly expensive and also more conditions excluded (some employer schemes have medical history diregarded I.e. no exclusions).

OldMusicGuy

Another one for Benenden here, it's a great way of getting non-urgent things done more quickly. Much more cost effective than private health insurance IMO.

You can also consider pay as you go, it's actually quite cost effective for some things. I had to have a hernia op last year just after I had retired and for various reasons I had to get it done before my Benenden subscription was active. It cost £1,100 plus a few extras like MRSA testing and blood test (around £200 if I recall) for an excellent private hernia specialist.

Of course the best health insurance is to stay healthy. Eat well, stay active.

csgohan4

if you have the money Private health insurance is a nice thing ot have, benenden are ok but they do have exclusions and you get what you pay for.

bostonerimus

I live in the USA so retirement health insurance is a big issue. I don't have the NHS and people in the UK should than their lucky stars for the NHS, whatever it's issues. In the US most workers get health insurance through their employer, so it's always an issue when you change jobs and you have to be make sure of continuity of coverage. The cost is also a big problem as the employee will usually pay hundreds or dollars in monthly insurance premiums and then probably have to pay the first $5k ot $10k in medical expenses. This gets expensive if you are pregnant, have young kids or a chronic illness. Drugs are also very expensive in the USA.

The situation is worse if you retire early before the government Medicare program starts at age 65. Then you have to go out on the private market and buy insurance yourself and that can cost many hundreds of dollars in premiums. Even if you are over 65 and getting Medicare insurance it will cost $200/month in premiums and you have to buy supplemental private insurance to cover what Medicare doesn't.

I'm lucky as I was a state worker I get my insurance from the state from age 55 with a very large subsidy. So I end up paying $100/month and have a low deductible.

csgohan4

bostonerimus wrote: »

I live in the USA so retirement health insurance is a big issue. I don't have the NHS and people in the UK should than their lucky stars for the NHS, whatever it's issues. In the US most workers get health insurance through their employer, so it's always an issue when you change jobs and you have to be make sure of continuity of coverage. The cost is also a big problem as the employee will usually pay hundreds or dollars in monthly insurance premiums and then probably have to pay the first $5k ot $10k in medical expenses. This gets expensive if you are pregnant, have young kids or a chronic illness. Drugs are also very expensive in the USA.

The situation is worse if you retire early before the government Medicare program starts at age 65. Then you have to go out on the private market and buy insurance yourself and that can cost many hundreds of dollars in premiums. Even if you are over 65 and getting Medicare insurance it will cost $200/month in premiums and you have to buy supplemental private insurance to cover what Medicare doesn't.

I'm lucky as I was a state worker I get my insurance from the state from age 55 with a very large subsidy. So I end up paying $100/month and have a low deductible.

Sadly the entitled in this country don't see this, because it's free and it's paid by their 'taxes' they want a private service from a public paid service. Complaining of waiting months for an appointment with a specialist, when elsewhere you would have paid hundreds of pounds for a consult

saver_ali

This is an interesting and very relevant topic for us. My husband retires imminently, and we got a quote for continuing cover after he leaves his job. This would be our best option as his corporate cover is medical history disregarded, whereas if we went with a new company he would have preexisting conditions.

The initial quote was ridiculous, but by opting for less cover we have reduced it by 60% to £108 pcm for my husband and £114 pcm for me (I'm slightly older).

We both feel healthy at the moment, but my husband has already had a knee and hip replacement, so there's a possibility he might need another one at some point. Given the lengthy wait for joint replacements on the NHS, we think it might be worth continuing cover for him, at least in the short term.

sheramber

A colleague had an operation at a private hospital under the Benenden scheme.

A year later the NHS undid the botched job that had been done and did it correctly.