Does your company provide private healthcare? Vitality...

I had BUPA when I worked for my last UK employer and I used it to see a specialist about a concern that I had. The exam/consultation cost BUPA £300 to £400 but I only had to pay a £50 deductible. Thankfully, the consultant said that there was nothing to be concerned about, but if I had to have surgery, everything would have been paid for by the BUPA plan (I estimate that it would have £10K+, based on various calculations that I had done out of curiosity).
 
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Not for free/BIK - we get a large discount at I think Vitality, or somewhere similar named, but I've never looked into it.
 
Not always, but at decent sized companies I've had bupa. I've used it, I look for it when job hunting. It's the difference between getting seen in weeks vs months/years.
 
Rotty said:
We have Aviva cover, just pay BIK

previous conditions are not excluded

£30k claim 2 years ago paid with no problems at all
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Vitality sounds pretty good. I'm almost jealous. I fancy 75% discount on Champneys. Yup pretty fair deal to be honest.

My company group health insurance was with Bupa. They were great but the new contract negotiations meant Bupa were going to bump the cost and excess for claims fees up. So my company switched to Aviva.
Big win for Aviva then? Well, yes and no, Aviva soon discovered My cancer immunotherapy treatment was ongoing with Bupa and taken over by default with the new Aviva contract and costing the health care insurers £10,000 a month. (No typo there, Ten thousand pounds a month. Immunotherapy costs a whole lot of wonga).

The Aviva rep hadn't been aware of this during negotiations. (An oversight?) Dunno for sure but there was a bit of "protracted correspondence" - and frantic phone calls from me - when trying to resume the existing claim. Anyway, Aviva just kept on paying that ten grand for the next eighteen months.
I actually felt sorry for them. :) Then again, maybe , given the size of the contract, 10 grand a month may not be a huge deal for them.
 
Yes, with Vitality through work, highest level they offer but honestly the little taste I got of private health care made me realise how much I hate the initial interaction with such companies, it's no different than car, house insurance, same games, same frustrations:

1) Noticed mole type weird spot on leg.
2) See general nurse in my company building.
3) Refers to specialist as not sure what is it and to contact Vitality first.
4) Vitality decline approval because it could just be a spot or something.
5) Replied with a "sexed" up version of my talk with nurse, "could be cancer, it NEEDS to be checked.
6) Vitality authorise appt, get text message conforming so.
7) Specialist send letter after appt saying Vitality declined to pay...
8) Vitality denied they approved claim.
9) I replied with screenshot of text message.
10) They pay up.

So in short, you have to learn the game and make sure you get proof of approval before seeing a specialist.

They've actually reduced the perks a lot of the past 5 years, moving the goal posts to it's harder so get and/or maintain the "gold" level of perks. It used to be Starbucks but now some other worse chain. I just stopped bothering but will go to the effort again come Nov so I can get free Amazon Prime through them.
 
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FWIW, I've tried claiming on Vitality for the first time....their website is awful....and after digging around it turned out you have to get the dentist to fill out a form, then send it and the invoice off to a specific email address. Did that a month ago, never got any confirmation it was received, no idea what's happening with the claim. Pretty rubbish tbh, Axa and Bupa are miles better.
 
SideWinder said:
The company I work for, randomly, said I am now covered by Vitality.
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They didn't discuss it with you in advance? That's a little iffy as whilst you're not paying for Vitality directly you're liable for the benefit in kind so it'll negatively impact your tax situation.

I've had private healthcare through work for about 20 years. I get BUPA through my my employer and it's excellent. Pre-existing conditions are covered and most of the cover has no financial limit. I've used it several times. These days I always use the private GP that I get through BUPA as trying to even talk to a GP at my local surgery means about a month wait.

My other half has AXA. Yes, we both pay BIK but one of the consultants she uses doesn't work with BUPA and the other doesn't work with AXA.
 
the-evaluator said:
They didn't discuss it with you in advance? That's a little iffy as whilst you're not paying for Vitality directly you're liable for the benefit in kind so it'll negatively impact your tax situation.

I've had private healthcare through work for about 20 years. I get BUPA through my my employer and it's excellent. Pre-existing conditions are covered and most of the cover has no financial limit. I've used it several times. These days I always use the private GP that I get through BUPA as trying to even talk to a GP at my local surgery means about a month wait.

My other half has AXA. Yes, we both pay BIK but one of the consultants she uses doesn't work with BUPA and the other doesn't work with AXA.
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Well, they did ask if I wanted it. :)
 
Just been told by my company that the 2023 premium they’ll be paying is going up nearly 3x compared to 2022! That means 3x as much BIK, pft!

Anyone else experiencing the same?
 
Interestingly I’m going to be speaking to the HR team next week to understand the costs of this. Anything north of say £30 a month I don’t think I’d bother.
It’s a nice to have but not essential. I’d definitely take it when I’m older (34 now, maybe take it from 45).
 
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Freddie1980 said:
My company does through AXA, it's handy for this like physiotherapy but it won't help you if you have pre existing conditions.
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I've been at a few different companies with both BUPA and Axa and they covered pre-existing conditions. I recently had treatment costing around 15k to a pre-existing heart condition. Your company must have some really cheap policy!

I wouldn't be without private healthcare now, the wait for the NHS is so long in some cases, and when you have something bad you're basically wasting your life while waiting for treatment.
 
Wifes new job comes with Axa premium cover and we're paying a small add on to cover myself and our son, it covers all pre-existing conditions and is surprisingly generous with what you can claim for. I'm pushing into my mid 40's and have less and less confidence with the NHS lately.

The physio cover alone will make it worth while, i'm still waiting for an NHS referal from mid 2021 - i've since paid privately for an osteo.
 
Yep company I work for gives Bupa and I pay a little extra to add family.....it is so good when you need it as the NHS is really knackered so if you have option then add family to any benefits you have.....

If I moved jobs medical cover would be high on my list of benefits to look for....
 
Yes, Aetna (USA). But then... this is completely normal here, and stupid expensive. (Company pays around 75% of the cost for it).
 
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I work for a large company and have had family healthcare the entire time I've worked there. I think we have a £100 excess per person per year but balanced against the advantages that's a very small cost when you use it.
 
They’ll pay half for me, but you only have the policy until you leave the company, which is no use to me really. By which time I’ll be older and it’ll be far more expensive.
 
Had private healthcare my whole life under my mums work then my own until about 2018. Had many surgeries etc all done on it and some tests that needed 5 year follow ups. NHS is such a shambles I'm still waiting 7 years later. Wish I had continued to pay it when I left my last job.
 
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