Can I really save £328/year by cancelling med insurance?

freestyle_3

Well been busy money saving this weekend.

I've just recieved a letter from the tax office showing me how much tax I've paid.

It would appear that I paid £328 in tax for my medical cover.

Now I'm a little confused. My company is with BUPA and has always said

"BUPA cover is a taxable benefit"....

Can't see a seperate line on my monthly wage slip.


So in summary if I cancel, will I see another £328/year in take home ?

Spendless

We have BUPA family cover cos of hubbys work. It doesn't show on his pay slip but does on his P11D and any other forms from tax office.

I've no idea how to work out how much you'd receive in extra take home pay without it but I would say consider carefully before cancelling it.

A hearing problem that came on suddenly turned out to be a (benign) brain tumour. I saw a specialist in days, got an MRI within weeks and had an op within 2 months. I'd have waited at least 12 months and probably more on the NHS. The cost came to over £12,000!!

One day you might find yourself very grateful that you have BUPA- I did.

Debt_Free_Chick

freestyle wrote:

Well been busy money saving this weekend.

I've just recieved a letter from the tax office showing me how much tax I've paid.

It would appear that I paid £328 in tax for my medical cover.

Now I'm a little confused. My company is with BUPA and has always said

"BUPA cover is a taxable benefit"....

Can't see a seperate line on my monthly wage slip.


So in summary if I cancel, will I see another £328/year in take home ?

Are you sure the tax is correct?

Your employer should issue you with a form P11d each year, to show the amount of the taxable benefit. You then pay tax (22% or 40%) on the benefit itself.

If the tax really is £325, then the benefit would be £1490.91 if you pay tax at 22% or £820 if you pay tax at 40%.

The "benefit" should be the premium that the company pays to provide you with the insurance.

If you cancel the medical insurance, you'll pay less tax, but you'll lose the insurance. If you want to replace the insurance, you'll need to find a premium which is less than the tax you're currently paying.

HTH

Gibblestick

If you're being charged for medical cover and you then cancel it, you won't pay for it any more. Works out at £27.33/month which isn't too bad (I guess you've got the whole family covered).
As to whether it is worth the risk of cancelling???
That depends how much you like waiting for operations and eating NHS food.

brantwood150

Pay the tax. Look at it as gibblestick says - It's costing you £27 a month for the safety net of having private medical cover. That's a bargain.

I've used my BUPA cover on several occasions and it makes a hell of a difference to how long it takes for you to see a consultant. Wtihin weeks rather than months/years.

Ian_W

Agree with what's been said above, your employer paying for BUPA is a bargain - as you only pick up the tax on it as a "benefit in kind" - they pay the premiums.

If, in spite of that, you want to cancel you should first check out your employers attitude. Whilst BUPA is a benefit for you [& family?] personally, hence taxable - it also provides a benefit for your employer, knowing that if anything happens to you healthwise you are likelier to get speedier treatment than on the NHS and have less/shorter absences - that may well be why they consider it should be part of your remuneration package.

mrnomoneybags

You could save that money but again IMO its very worth it.

I have had two ops now with private medical cover (Bupa and Standard Life)

both would have cost me over £6000 in real terms over 2 years it cost me £800-£900

You pays your money you takes your chance

freestyle_3

Thank you for all the useful replies.

I knew that we would all end up talking about the pro's and con's of this BUPA cover I have. Which is why I was not sure about posting this to the health forum instead. But as the main part of my question was tax I choose to put it here.

For those of you that are reading this because you've been sent an email thank you for taking the time to check back. What I will do is dig out my P11D if thats where it should appear.

For additional information I am paying %40, but am only 25 and single (no family yet !)

And yes it's a bit like the other problem am I facing. Do I change my lottery numbers ? arghhhh..... the art of sods law

Spendless

freestyle wrote:

For additional information I am paying %40, but am only 25 and single (no family yet !)

Would the cover change from single to family when/if you did have a family?

As I said previously I've actually no idea to work out how much better offf we'd be without this cover-but I'd rather have it and know that in event of illness in me,hubby. or 2 kids its there to be used.

Gambler

keep the benefie, I ahd it for many years in my last job but not in my current one and I miss it.