Private operation costs

Enigmaman

I am due to have an operation soon but am concerned about hidden costs if I use my private health policy (Vitality Core Cover).

As I understand I will have to pay a £1000 excess. Plus any costs of medicines after 3 days (expected to be in hospital for four nights). 

I believe I will also have to pay a private follow-up fee. Ao far, so acceptable. 

However, I am wondering what other costs I might be liable for. I cannot see anything obvious from the policy, but would3eb interested in hearing of others' experiences of private health care costs in general and Vitality in particular.

DullGreyGuy

Our cover is with Bupa, only thing we've ever had to pay for is the excess and private prescriptions when out of the hospital but our GP at the time was very friendly and basically agreed to give NHS prescriptions after the initial one. Private meds vary massively in pricing, some are cheaper than the NHS prescription charge, others are very expensive. We were fortunate and the prescription was about £25.

Certainly with Bupa the excess is per policy year and so if treatment spans two policy years then there are two excesses to pay. 

Richard1212

First of all, I would suggest the O/P reads his policy in detail---and all will be revealed. Does he pay for full cover or for partial or specific cover for certain conditions; or a certain lower level of cover than "fully comprehensive" ?  I don't know anything about Vitality private medical insurance but I know from my own experience that Vitality are a rather "unusual" ( possibly even "eccentric") company when it comes to Life Insurance.

Second, I agree with DullGreyGuy about BUPA. My wife is a member and is fully covered for everything up to maximum amounts that should take care, in any one year period, of all outpatient, inpatient diagnoses and treatments as well as all operations and unlimited cover for cancer. She has never had to pay a penny either for inpatient or outpatient ----all the surgeon's and anaesthetist's fees are covered, hotel costs in full in private en suite rooms in a very large list of private hospitals. 

Personally, I have similar full insurance for just about everything with The Exeter , who I can't praise enough.

Sorry not to have any knowledge of Vitality Medical Insurance but I wish you all the very best with your operation, Enigmaman. 

TELLIT01

If Vitality have virtually everything apart from the operation and directly associated costs as 'extras' to be paid for by the OP, will services such as physio also have to be paid for.  I had cover through my employer with PPP some years ago and didn't have to pay for anything.

Enigmaman

I will certainly read through the Ts and Cs carefully once again. Thankyou everyone.



One further point I have been pondering, that is not particular to Vitality but rather concerns NHS practices, is at whst point the NHS permits you to go back into their system. 

Specifically, I understand the op and follow up appointment would be private (I would have to pay for the follow up as my policy does not cover consultations).

After that would I be able to go back to the NHS?

Brie

Because my referral to AXA (work health care) was done via my NHS GP I didn't have to pay for any prescriptions.

Richard1212

Enigmaman said:

I will certainly read through the Ts and Cs carefully once again. Thankyou everyone.



One further point I have been pondering, that is not particular to Vitality but rather concerns NHS practices, is at whst point the NHS permits you to go back into their system. 

Specifically, I understand the op and follow up appointment would be private (I would have to pay for the follow up as my policy does not cover consultations).

After that would I be able to go back to the NHS?

Yes, T&Cs well worth studying. 

You say that you are covered for follow up appointment and yet you say you are not covered for consultations so will not be eligible for the follow up. Both those comments seem to contradict each other. If you are covered for follow up, then ( consultation or not) you will be covered privately. If T&C s say you are not covered for follow up , then you won't be able to go privately. It's one or the other. Normally, I would expect the follow up to be eligible for private treatment after your insurers have paid for the original operation. Easy to check by just phoning Vitality---all private health insurers are usually very helpful when asked such questions.
You can go back into the NHS system at any stage you wish----even if you are eligible for private treatment. Don't worry about that aspect at all. 

Once again, Enigmaman---all the very best for the operation : I trust you'll be up and around in no time and, if in a private hospital, the private room, better food and peace and quiet and easier access for visitors will have helped your full recovery a lot more quickly.

Enigmaman

Perhaps I should clarify my earlier statement. When I say the follow up would be private, I mean it would be something I have to pay for. I.e. not NHS. 

Outpatient consultations are definitely not covered under my policy. 



I certainly have had sone bad experiences on NHS wards. It was a virtually sleepless one- night stay in 2019 that prompted me to take out private cover. So much noise. Since then I've had further bad experiences including an extremely small ward with four blokes crammed in. I freaked out with claustrophobia and luckily they moved me to a side room but there's no guarantee one will be available again. I'm going back to that hospital. 

Other experiences have pushed me beyond my physical and mental limits, e.g
 24 sleepless hours in a corridor after 12 exhausting  hours sitting in A and E. 

It's not the quality of NHS care that worries me. It's the accommodation.

Enigmaman

And to clarify further, the two most recent admissions I refer to were both emergency ones so I had no chance to arrange private care (and in any case don't believe emergency care is covered). 

Richard1212

This is not the place to raise a vast topic (so it is merely a brief PS to all the experiences mentioned by Enigmaman's horror stories ),  but it just has to be said that the NHS is still, in spite of "tinkering" over the years,  built on the broad 1940s' blueprint rather than a new model for the 2020s and beyond ----which if produced now would look very different to the creaking old system which cannot cope at all in this day and age. The world has moved on but the NHS has basically not done so. And it's not just hospitals, it is GPs ( where we face a national scandal) and other "arms" of the NHS and homecare. Great NHS staff, lousy politicians. 
It is an horrendous fact that so many of us are petrified more by phoning 999 or ending up in A&E than in being seriously ill, in pain, or worse.

Enigmaman

Yes, I definitely don't mean to knock the staff AT ALL. Or the NHS -  just being candid about some of my experiences. Part of me feels guilty about being privileged enough to afford health insurance but then again my lifestyle is pretty modest and that's the only reason I can (just) afford it.