Do you have health insurance?

No, I don't.

And having been dealt with for the same problem by both private and NHS healthcare there's absolutely no way in hell I'd pay a penny for the inferior private product again. Yeah, you'll get seen faster, have free parking, today's paper and a pretty nurse if you go private but on all the stuff that really matters the NHS is simply better.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Private health care has been amazing for my family. My father has it as part of his package.

First, he had some sort of cancer in his hip years ago, as well as a slipped disc around the same time.

Second, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease (couldn't eat properly for about nine weeks) and had I had to go on the NHS I would have been much more ill than I was at the time. I've had various operations using it as well, related to having Crohn's.

Third, my mother was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. I think that NHS care for cancer patients is pretty good, but I doubt it would have been dealt with so quickly if she had had to use the NHS.

As soon as I can afford it, I'll be paying for insurance for myself, as my father's doesn't cover me any more.
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This is my feeling now I've used it. If I'm ever in a job that doesn't cover it I'll be buying my own. It's one of those things that is expensive and seems unnecessary but when you use it you realise how valuable it is.
 
Hades said:
This is my feeling now I've used it. If I'm ever in a job that doesn't cover it I'll be buying my own. It's one of those things that is expensive and seems unnecessary but when you use it you realise how valuable it is.
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Indeed, man. I just got a quote from bupa for £900/year roughly. I think one MRI scan is about £400; **** knows what it costs for a 2 hours operation, or worse.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Indeed, man. I just got a quote from bupa for £900/year roughly. I think one MRI scan is about £400; **** knows what it costs for a 2 hours operation, or worse.
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It's not the operation that's the expensive bit, it's all the stuff that comes with it.
For an op that may cost £300 in surgeon's fees you'll likely be paying at least that for for the hospital room (and that's assuming a one night stay) a hundred or two for the anaesthetist, another few hundred in consultations before and afterwards, any physio that may be needed etc.

A couple of hour op can end up costing thousands if you add up all the costs involved with the whole process.
 
Haircut said:
It's not the operation that's the expensive bit, it's all the stuff that comes with it.
For an op that may cost £300 in surgeon's fees you'll likely be paying at least that for for the hospital room (and that's assuming a one night stay) a hundred or two for the anaesthetist, another few hundred in consultations before and afterwards, any physio that may be needed etc.

A couple of hour op can end up costing thousands if you add up all the costs involved with the whole process.
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Absolutely, it adds up very quickly. Fortunately, the cost of health insurance is far outweighed by these costs.

Mr Jack said:
Or you could get it on the NHS for free.
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You can indeed, and I have done recently, but when you need to get something dealt with as quickly as possible, private is the way to go. The day I was diagnosed I went into the hospital never having been spoken to about what was going on before, except by my GP, and came out with a scan, a diagnosis, and some medicine that had me temporarily back to normal the next morning, while I waited for the long term drugs to kick in.
 
I've got it and I wouldn't want to be without it. Both myself and my friend happened to have a minor operation at the same time (ingrown toenail removal!) - mine was a considerably easier and less painful experience.
 
Mr Jack said:
Or you could get it on the NHS for free.
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Case in point:

Two years ago I felt a lump in my testicle. I saw my NHS doctor at about 4pm the same day who wasn't happy with it. When I said I had private health cover he managed to get me an ultrasound appointment that night at about 6pm. A day later the results were back and by the end of the week I'd been referred to a private consultant, been diagnosed with a tumour and had it removed while staying in a nice comfy private room with TV etc. Since then I've had follow up meetings with my consultant at a time that suits me in a nice pleasant private wing of the hospital (I've recently changed jobs so my old insurance no longer covers me and I'm back to NHS follow ups at inconvenient times).

A year later my brother found a lump and didn't have private care. Several months later he managed to get a scan and luckily was told it was nothing to worry about. But if it had been a tumour then that would have been several months additional growth or potential for it spreading.
 
Hades said:
Case in point:

Two years ago I felt a lump in my testicle. I saw my NHS doctor at about 4pm the same day who wasn't happy with it. When I said I had private health cover he managed to get me an ultrasound appointment that night at about 6pm. A day later the results were back and by the end of the week I'd been referred to a private consultant, been diagnosed with a tumour and had it removed while staying in a nice comfy private room with TV etc. Since then I've had follow up meetings with my consultant at a time that suits me in a nice pleasant private wing of the hospital (I've recently changed jobs so my old insurance no longer covers me and I'm back to NHS follow ups at inconvenient times).

A year later my brother found a lump and didn't have private care. Several months later he managed to get a scan and luckily was told it was nothing to worry about. But if it had been a tumour then that would have been several months additional growth or potential for it spreading.
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Yes but that doesn't mean the NHS is 'worse' than private per se, it means they need more money and doctors. I have this argument with Americans frequently and the point remains, being privately insured doesn't make the population less prone to illness, it just prioritises those with money over those without.

The reason you get to see a doctor more quickly privately isn't because private hospitals have better doctors or more efficient systems, it's because there is less competition due to economic ability.
 
Hades said:
Case in point:

Two years ago I felt a lump in my testicle. I saw my NHS doctor at about 4pm the same day who wasn't happy with it. When I said I had private health cover he managed to get me an ultrasound appointment that night at about 6pm. A day later the results were back and by the end of the week I'd been referred to a private consultant, been diagnosed with a tumour and had it removed while staying in a nice comfy private room with TV etc. Since then I've had follow up meetings with my consultant at a time that suits me in a nice pleasant private wing of the hospital (I've recently changed jobs so my old insurance no longer covers me and I'm back to NHS follow ups at inconvenient times).

A year later my brother found a lump and didn't have private care. Several months later he managed to get a scan and luckily was told it was nothing to worry about. But if it had been a tumour then that would have been several months additional growth or potential for it spreading.
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Several months for an ultrasound on a testicle? I've got private cover yet when I needed that checked out I still got an NHS appointment within a few days.

MRI for my knee on the other hand (not particularly serious/potential life threatening etc..) - that's where having private cover helped a lot.

If you've got something serious then the NHS should and usually does work quite well... its for other things that private is useful - routine things that can wait & will wait on the NHS can happen quicker
 
estebanrey said:
Yes but that doesn't mean the NHS is 'worse' than private per se, it means they need more money and doctors. I have this argument with Americans frequently and the point remains, being privately insured doesn't make the population less prone to illness, it just prioritises those with money over those without.

The reason you get to see a doctor more quickly privately isn't because private hospitals have better doctors or more efficient systems, it's because there is less competition due to economic ability.
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Yes agreed. And when it comes to health I'd rather have the option of being seen sooner rather than Later. In my case the treatment I received is by the same people who would have done it on the NHS but I simply got it done faster and in more comfort.
 
I never had it in the UK and certainly never had a problem with anything the NHS did for me, have it here though just for tax purposes, the public health system is fine.
 
I have it with my work although I haven't used the medical side of it yet. They pay about 600 a year for me from which I get a load of benefits such as gym discounts, free cinema tickets and other "healthy/happy" lifestyle items.

Does you insurance include these extra things? Maybe try and push these if so.
 
I have it at work for free.

Out of principal I don't use it, Tories just want to force the NHS into disarray so people use private healthcare then tell us the NHS isn't working and people prefer private healthcare.

Then when I'm 50 and priced out of private healthcare and the government has privatised the NHS I have to lay down and die, I refuse to play ball.
 
estebanrey said:
Yes but that doesn't mean the NHS is 'worse' than private per se, it means they need more money and doctors. I have this argument with Americans frequently and the point remains, being privately insured doesn't make the population less prone to illness, it just prioritises those with money over those without.

The reason you get to see a doctor more quickly privately isn't because private hospitals have better doctors or more efficient systems, it's because there is less competition due to economic ability.
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I don't quite know whether this point is relevant. The fact is that the NHS is much slower to respond, but the same doctors that you see in private are likely to be the ones you see on the NHS (my specialist was on both until he went private only).

Of course it doesn't make people less ill; that's just the point at all. What it does mean is that you get a quicker and more efficient service, which can be just what you need.
 
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