Private Health Insurance advice

andrewlya

Hi, do you have an advice based on your PERSONAL experience when buying a health insurance? Does it actually work-do they actually help you when you need it? What to look out for?
We are considering it after wwaiting for 6months for our son to get a scan and another 4 months to see a consultant with NHS. 
Thanks in advance!

uss_tish

@andrewlya hi so sorry to hear that you are struggling to get treatment for your son.

I’m with Aviva. My husband had a very bad experience on NHS ward when he had pneumonia and we took it out after that 10 years ago. Very sadly turns out we have had more than had our moneys worth when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and received 16 months care and palliative chemo as private patient at the Marsden.

cancer care package is pretty much full cover (excl initial excess in each year) and the increase in costs following a claim were I thought very reasonable. I found Aviva team excellent and very responsive is finding hospitals and clinicians for his various procedures required during his treatment. However, do make sure you read the policy small print as they (Aviva) will only pay surgeon fees for example to a certain level, so need to ask each time what the fees will be and then get approval from your health insurance provider in advance. 

Sadly he passed away but take comfort that throughout his treatment he was comfortable and reassured; for me that is priceless.

lisyloo

When it works it’s fantastic.

I had an ultrasound scan and saw a consultant this year (all perfectly ok).
my NHS scan came up on a really inconvenient date which meant I’d have to delay a holiday. I called them and I went to the back of the queue. They took note of dates I couldn’t make e.g. holidays, but said I’d just need to wait for a letter.

I booked a private ultrasound next day (and could have gone the same day).
I was completely free to choose my clinic, date and time.
i also got a screening blood test included which I don’t think the NHS do so it was more comprehensive in that particular case.

I then booked a consultant. I did this within 3 days.
could have got it next day (not necessarily ideal location/time).
I was able to again select the location, consultant, date & time.
the consultant took time to explain everything to me - there was no pressure to rush.
also there was ample free parking which whilst it might not be the top consideration can certainly be an issue in some places.

One option to consider (depending on what you want it for).
scans and consultants are relatively cheap.
my ultra sound was £190 and the consultant was £200.
not pennies but still could be less than insurance premiums.
one option is to consider paying privately for these tests and then going back onto the nhs if you need more expensive investigations,
this is basically queue jumping.
this works fairly well because it’s generally the initial tests stage is where the hold up is.
if one of the tests indicated a more concerning diagnosis then you’d get into other parts of the nhs much more quickly.
self insurance means you are not subject to anyone else’s rules. You simply pay privately.
the downside is that it doesn’t work for any big expenses.

the major thing to think about with health insurance is the restrictions.
if your employers pay for a scheme that you pay income tax on then that is likely to be a “no brainer”.

The important thing to look at is the cover.
most policies won’t cover chronic conditions - like diabetes,
some policies look at your medical history and won’t cover conditions you have already.

Other policies might be moratorium based e.g. won’t cover what you’ve had in the last 5 years until you have been with them for 2 years.

what are you looking for cover for?
- tests and scans?
- things with long waits like hip, knee, wisdom teeth?
- major treatment like cancer?
- everything?

note that premium will be expensive for a family so it would be really helpful if you could pin down where your concerns are,

if you are mostly healthy and are concerned about the waits for tests and scans, then I’d say open a savings account, put some money in it each month and then pay £200 to get a scan/consultant quickly and conveniently when you need it.

dunstonh

Hi, do you have an advice based on your PERSONAL experience when buying a health insurance?

Just a pedantic correction.  It is private medical insurance (PMI). Not health insurance.      If you introduce the word "health" it can get confused with permanent health insurance (PHI)

Sandtree

andrewlya said:

Hi, do you have an advice based on your PERSONAL experience when buying a health insurance? Does it actually work-do they actually help you when you need it? What to look out for?
We are considering it after wwaiting for 6months for our son to get a scan and another 4 months to see a consultant with NHS. 
Thanks in advance!

The main stumbling block with Private Medical Insurance is you need a referral letter from a doctor to start a claim and so in most cases that means your GP. Given its not NHS funded they tend to be much happier to do the referral than if it were coming from the public purse but still have the hassle of getting appointments, their speed of penning the letter etc.

We've made 2 claims on our policy over the years and the only two issues were:

1) GP dictated referral but locked it in her desk and went on holiday for 2 weeks
2) The process for approving further treatment wasnt made clear and when checking if it was my or the Drs responsibility was told it was the Drs but the claims handler didnt think it would be approved (it was not only approved but further extended without questions)

Outside of that my longest wait was 1.5 weeks for the consultant and thats because he was on holiday at the start.. saw him on Tuesday AM, MRI Tuesday PM, Wednesday PM followup session with the consultant for the results... subtly different to your 10 month NHS experience and this was for a non-urgent matter

Obviously be aware that most personal PMI doesnt cover pre-existing conditions and so buying family cover today wont help your son with their current condition. Remember also that pricing is based on age etc and so when you are fit and healthy and young it can look affordable but in later years when your starting to feel the effects of life the premiums may become unaffordable.

Some corporate policies will however do cover pre-existing conditions and premiums can be massively cheaper than personal policies, even before you consider you only pay the BIK and so can be very much worth while looking into if you are in stable long term jobs