Private healthcare

jon86 said:
That's how all insurance works. :confused:

It could pay for a lot more managers. /s

If private healthcare is so wrong, why did you use it?

What do you mean by, "I don't really like having it"? You don't have to have it if you don't want to. Simply opt out.

If you had good health insurance in the USA, your health insurance company would have most likely paid for the millions of dollars of care that your daughter would have needed, just like they do every day here.

It sounds like the NHS isn't working when your providers couldn't be bothered to help you. If that's the case, why would you still want the NHS?
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For me personally, as an advocate of the NHS, I believe it should be the countries absolute number one priority and funded properly.

I don't like having to have it, is a probably a better way to describe it. Also if I'm not on a waiting list, then someone else theoretically gets "my" place.

Ultimately it's a complicated confliction.
 
LOAM said:
I don't like having to have it, is a probably a better way to describe it. Also if I'm not on a waiting list, then someone else theoretically gets "my" place.
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I remind myself of this every time I feel guilty using the private GP system or go to an appointment for an issue that isn't "urgent".

Typical bloke - avoid the doctor until something is about to fall off then go to A&E! Or, I was like that before I got private healthcare through work.
 
I take it most private insurance is the same as Aviva, in that you need a GP referral to get to see a consultant privately ? I think that is anothe pinch point in the NHS system. I understand why the insurers want it, as it stops payouts for people that have trivial things that don't require any diagnosis or intervention at all, but given the difficulty in getting GP appointments, to have to use one of this valuable resource to simply skip passed the NHS seems a waste.

I needed a GP referral before Aviva would authorise some physio sessions for tennis elbow. It worth notin that the GP appointment was done over the phone and therefore he never saw me or assessed the elbow.
 
tangey said:
I take it most private insurance is the same as Aviva, in that you need a GP referral to get to see a consultant privately ? I think that is anothe pinch point in the NHS system. I understand why the insurers want it, as it stops payouts for people that have trivial things that don't require any diagnosis or intervention at all, but given the difficulty in getting GP appointments, to have to use one of this valuable resource to simply skip passed the NHS seems a waste.

I needed a GP referral before Aviva would authorise some physio sessions for tennis elbow. It worth notin that the GP appointment was done over the phone and therefore he never saw me or assessed the elbow.
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Not sure if it's policy dependent, but I'm with Aviva and get free access to virtual GP appts that you can use to get referrals. We've also used it to get prescriptions immediately as well, although you have to pay in full for the prescription.
 
tangey said:
I take it most private insurance is the same as Aviva, in that you need a GP referral to get to see a consultant privately ? I think that is anothe pinch point in the NHS system. I understand why the insurers want it, as it stops payouts for people that have trivial things that don't require any diagnosis or intervention at all, but given the difficulty in getting GP appointments, to have to use one of this valuable resource to simply skip passed the NHS seems a waste.

I needed a GP referral before Aviva would authorise some physio sessions for tennis elbow. It worth notin that the GP appointment was done over the phone and therefore he never saw me or assessed the elbow.
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My Aviva policy comes with digital GP which can be used for the referral. I also don't need a referral for muscle or joint issues so my knee MRI and consultant was all paid for once they'd sent me to see a physio after I logged the issue online.
 
tom_e said:
My Aviva policy comes with digital GP which can be used for the referral. I also don't need a referral for muscle or joint issues so my knee MRI and consultant was all paid for once they'd sent me to see a physio after I logged the issue online.
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I'll need to figure out how to activate the digital GP thing, I downloaded he app, but it needed an access code, and I couldn't immediately see how to get that on the Aviva insurance App.
 
tangey said:
I'll need to figure out how to activate the digital GP thing, I downloaded he app, but it needed an access code, and I couldn't immediately see how to get that on the Aviva insurance App.
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If you're on a company policy they need to provide it IIRC
 
When I last lived in the UK, I had a BUPA policy and was able to refer myself to any specialist that I wanted to; I simply needed to convince the person making the appointment that I had a genuine concern that the specialist could help me with. It was great that I could completely bypass the requirement for a GP referral.
 
Bupa app has a "book an appointment" feature that allows you a audio or video appointment with a specialist nurse or GP. From there, they will email you (usually within a couple of hours) with an auth code and a link nearby consultants who are suitable. You simply book through that link and your good to go.

They also have a list of "Self cert" such as physiotherapy and cancer etc that you don't need to pre-authorise, but that might be policy based I'm not sure.
 
My company's AXA policy includes online/phone GP appointments and physio as well. So we can go direct for up to 10 physio sessions without a GP assessment, I was sent to a Nuffield Health centre.
 
LuckyBenski said:
My company's AXA policy includes online/phone GP appointments and physio as well. So we can go direct for up to 10 physio sessions without a GP assessment, I was sent to a Nuffield Health centre.
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same here, the only issue is that my local nuffield health centre is miles away. I would use the osteopath sessions for my bad back but the guy who is near me is a bit meh... I really need the bottom of my back cracking back in to place.
 
jon86 said:
If you had good health insurance in the USA, your health insurance company would have most likely paid for the millions of dollars of care that your daughter would have needed, just like they do every day here.

It sounds like the NHS isn't working when your providers couldn't be bothered to help you. If that's the case, why would you still want the NHS?
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Because although the private healthcare has been excellent, dealing with the provider is a royal PITA.

- Having to get pre-authorisation for everything.
- Being initially denied the auth for surgery because of silly things (surgeon had two possible paths for recovery - insurance couldn't cope that their may be different outcomes).
- Having to either pay or source my own crutches because the provider doesn't include / cover them for rehabilitation.

All issues I don't have with the NHS. Even with private, it's still cost me a heck of a lot of money to get it sorted.

Insurance companies are only interested in profit. The US is free to keep that as the primary method of healthcare. I'm happy to have it as a backup for when the NHS response isn't satisfactory.

As for my daughter's care, yes it may have been covered if I'd been lucky enough to be on a decent plan. The majority of people aren't and I wouldn't want to swap the NHS to find out - they've saved her life and have continued to do so for nearly a decade. No private healthcare necessary.
 
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So after the initial consultation and extremely quick turnaround to get a CT scan which i had 2 weeks ago, the next available time to get the results from the DR is on the 7th May via phone. :confused:

Am I being unreasonable to think id get the results a lot quicker?
 
Chrisc said:
So after the initial consultation and extremely quick turnaround to get a CT scan which i had 2 weeks ago, the next available time to get the results from the DR is on the 7th May via phone. :confused:

Am I being unreasonable to think id get the results a lot quicker?
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I'd be annoyed with that if it was private. You'd hope they would escalate it if there was anything to worry about though.
 
Chrisc said:
So after the initial consultation and extremely quick turnaround to get a CT scan which i had 2 weeks ago, the next available time to get the results from the DR is on the 7th May via phone. :confused:

Am I being unreasonable to think id get the results a lot quicker?
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The images will have to be review by someone other than the consultant who asked for them. So it will just add to the wait and you are probably not the only one having CT scans done.
 
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