Private Health Insurance - thoughts ?

Suzycoll

Hi forum members

short story....I have recently had lots of dealings with NHS re a vulnerable close family member. 

I was/am horrified of the care etc given in EVERY NHS care setting I have had experience of dealing with particularly A & E. It has been clear to me for many years that the NHS is very sadly basically very much broken and bucking under the strain !! My current experiences back this up.
I live in Wales. 

Although it goes against all my principles, it  had got me thinking abut taking out private health insurance. I have read a little about it and the choices are a bit of a minefield. Insurance for myself (single person) would be around £80+ per month.

Just wondering if anyone is happy to share their thoughts/experiences re private health insurance.
It is not my intention to get political re NHS at all 

DullGreyGuy

Obviously the first thing to remember is that private medical insurance doesn't replace A&E for you, if you are having a heart attack or are run over then you will be taken to an NHS hospital. Once you are stablised and able to be moved then you can cross over into the private sector. 

Other than that, and how excesses work, it's all good. Waiting times are tiny and there isn't cost savings approaches like "see how it goes and we'll consider XXX" but straight to having XXX dont in a day or twos time. 

The problem is it's an annual contract so as you age and pick up more conditions the premiums go up notably. 

Mark_d

The NHS hasn't worked well for my family so I started paying for private medical insurance with WPA over ten years ago.

For decades NHS consultants failed to diagnose a condition that my partners suffers with.  Private consultant had the condition diagnosed and managed within weeks.

A family member suffering badly with kidney stones, had the issue sorted within days.  The NHS was taking weeks to do even the simplest of investigations.

Personally I have had multiple issues which were sorted through private medical, within a matter of days.  If I had to wait for the NHS, some of these issues would have ballooned into massive problems for me.

I don't like having to pay full contributions towards the NHS whilst I also have to pay for private medical, because my non-emergency care and dentist are all private.  But I feel that private medical is an essential for my family, more essential than a car.

lisyloo

I am a big fan of private health insurance or self-insurance to pay for tests.
The backlog if often (not always) in getting diagnosed (as a proportion of people don't have whatever it is).
Once you are diagnosed then the service you get from the NHS machine is often good.
So one option is to pay for tests e.g. ultrasound £195.

If you are younger you could opt for insurance.
If you are older and insurance prohibitive then you could save a few hundred for tests so that you can jump the queue.

Suzycoll

DullGreyGuy said:

Obviously the first thing to remember is that private medical insurance doesn't replace A&E for you, if you are having a heart attack or are run over then you will be taken to an NHS hospital. Once you are stablised and able to be moved then you can cross over into the private sector. 

Other than that, and how excesses work, it's all good. Waiting times are tiny and there isn't cost savings approaches like "see how it goes and we'll consider XXX" but straight to having XXX dont in a day or twos time. 

The problem is it's an annual contract so as you age and pick up more conditions the premiums go up notably. 

HI
Thanks for the reply. Yes I understand re A & E and the NHS is very good for emergency situation's as you described. I didn't think of the fact that premiums rise as you age - very useful thanks 

Suzycoll

lisyloo said:

I am a big fan of private health insurance or self-insurance to pay for tests.
The backlog if often (not always) in getting diagnosed (as a proportion of people don't have whatever it is).
Once you are diagnosed then the service you get from the NHS machine is often good.
So one option is to pay for tests e.g. ultrasound £195.

If you are younger you could opt for insurance.
If you are older and insurance prohibitive then you could save a few hundred for tests so that you can jump the queue.

Thanks lisyloo

Sadly I disagree about the NHS service being good when diagnosed, that is not my experience at all. Maybe living in Wales its worse ?
useful comment thanks 

DullGreyGuy

Suzycoll said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Obviously the first thing to remember is that private medical insurance doesn't replace A&E for you, if you are having a heart attack or are run over then you will be taken to an NHS hospital. Once you are stablised and able to be moved then you can cross over into the private sector. 

Other than that, and how excesses work, it's all good. Waiting times are tiny and there isn't cost savings approaches like "see how it goes and we'll consider XXX" but straight to having XXX dont in a day or twos time. 

The problem is it's an annual contract so as you age and pick up more conditions the premiums go up notably. 

HI
Thanks for the reply. Yes I understand re A & E and the NHS is very good for emergency situation's as you described. I didn't think of the fact that premiums rise as you age - very useful thanks 

The other point of note, PMI doesn't cover ongoing treatment of chronic conditions, though it will normally deal with periodic acute periods of such conditions. 

So take my recent experience with a joint issue... private medical got me tested, diagnosed and treatment plan started/initial monitoring (all months before I could be seen by a consultant on the NHS). Treatment for my condition is tablets and basic monitoring, mainly of the side effects of the tablet. PMI won't cover that so it's reverted back to the NHS... in my case the private hospital is across the road from the NHS hospital and about half the consultants work in both so I see familiar faces. 

If I had a bad flareup again I could revert to PMI for additional treatment or if its decided the joint has reached its limit then replacement surgery would be covered by the PMI.  

FYI - PMI doesn't cover routine pregnancy either

We dont have a full private healthcare insurance option in the UK as a total replacement for the NHS but the critical points around diagnosis and initial fixing is there.