Private health insurance

Not used mine yet but my colleague has had a mild heart attack and a stent fitted very quickly with PMI paying for the private treatment. Then after changing his fitness around completely in the last few years he's now suffering a knee injury as a result :) Saw the NHS doctor for a referal to private on Monday.

I let mine lax a few years a go and then got a wake up call recently with some mystery swollen Lymphs which has a been a nightmare to get appointment's for scanning etc. on the NHS so I started my PMI backup again. if I need treatment later in the year I can go private now to jump the queues.
 
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For years I held off being part of my employers scheme through some mad reservations about equality and queue jumping and also the fact that I've hardly taken a sick day off work in my life

I eventually joined in Jan 16, largely because my kids were no longer covered by their respective mum's schemes

Luckiest move I ever made - In Aug 16 I came down with some lurgi that was eventually diagnosed as a weird auto-immune thing

Had to go to my GP first to get a referral, but after that it was consultant after consultant, tests, biopsies etc

I'm fairly sure that if I hadn't had this level of service, I wouldn't have been diagnosed and treated in Jan 17 and might still be waiting - it was bad enough enduring the symptoms for 5 months

Towards the end of the diagnostic process, the insurance company started to get a bit jittery - the wording is they only cover short term-curable conditions, and mine was obviously moving into the long term untreatable category

As said above, if you can afford it, do it
 
BYTEr said:
I've been considering this for me and my wife, but I'm not 100% sure how it works, is the main benefit essentially you cut out waiting times? So you go to your normal GP, if they refer you, you then tell your private medical insurance company and they arrange an appointment much faster than otherwise? And the same for operations etc?

Thanks in advance.
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yup, basically it is most useful for ad-hoc things where you'd maybe need to see a specialist, have an MRI or have some surgery that isn't too life threatening

for any chronic conditions you'll find your insurance company wanting to ramp up premiums if you're buying a policy yourself rather than getting one through a company, you'll also need to declare pre-existing conditions

also depending where you are in the country you might not want to use a private facility for some things - while a minor knee operation or an MRI might be fine if it is something more serious you may want to be in a big NHS facility rather than some small private hospital with minimal facilities just in case something goes wrong. Some NHS hospitals will offer private treatment too so you can get the best of both worlds there and also some private hospitals in London are pretty well equipped and close enough to NHS ones too.

lastly for chronic conditions remember that in the NHS your case will be periodically discussed by a whole team of specialists in their weekly meeting whereas when you go private you're at the mercy of a single consultant (maybe he'll be able to have a quick chat with a colleague but it isn't really the same)
 
Invaluable benefit for me - I pay to have my wife covered too, as her new employer doesn't offer access, and my son. I've never had call to use it, but some of my colleagues have. I've used the NHS for a couple of things in the past two years - slicing off the side of a finger and a fractured wrist. However, given the way they botched my Dad's hip operation and then falsified medical notes to cover it up I feel more comfortable with a private option available too.
 
Had it when I was in the UK as an employment benefit and it's a necessity over here where I live now.

It always on my list of must haves for my family, heck even the dogs have it!
 
I've rarely used it. Until cancer jumped at me out of the blue one day. Then I was very, very grateful to be able to see a consultant the same day I found the lump rather than wait months for an appointment.
 
Thanks all :) Ok, given that not even one person really has said to not bother, I guess it makes sense to keep it. Grates slightly given I don't ever really use it, but as a couple of posters have said, you never know when you need it.
 
I don't get continuous sick or health problems so wouldn't use it and would probably rather have the extra £700 a year on my pay if allowed. Otherwise I would hammer it for the free eye tests/glasses and dentists if it's like the scheme they sell at work (which I don't subscribe to).
 
Sudden said:
Thanks all :) Ok, given that not even one person really has said to not bother, I guess it makes sense to keep it. Grates slightly given I don't ever really use it, but as a couple of posters have said, you never know when you need it.
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If you ever need physio or an MSK style treatment you can often have direct access to that. I used a dozen physio sessions last year, cost me £0. It would have cost me over £500 otherwise. Definitely worth it.

It's like any insurance, it grates to have to pay for something you're unlikely to use - but when you have it is incredibly useful. And it's not a lot of money really. You'll hardly see it missing.
 
Bumpety bump. Whilst I have no pre-existing conditions and approaching 40 - contemplating this through my wife's work scheme. Think I've had 1 or 2 days off sick in my whole adult life and that was for a minor op.

I feel like I'm cheating (plus the queue jumping as others have said) though as I work for the NHS but seeing the lag/wait times she's had to deal with in the NHS vs private - it seems a no brainer. One scheme is £28pm and another ~£50 pm - off to do some reading.
 
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doodah said:
Bumpety bump. Whilst I have no pre-existing conditions and approaching 40 - contemplating this through my wife's work scheme.

I feel like I'm cheating though as I work for the NHS but seeing the lag/wait times she's had to deal with in the NHS vs private - it seems a no brainer. One scheme is £28pm and another ~£50 pm - off to do some reading.
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I got included with my wifes (Axa) with her new job late last year and it's already paid for itself a few times over with the slight additional we had to pay for cover for myself and my son.

I had a bleeding mole at the start of the year, called up, got referred to a choice of specialists and seen within the week.

Had a recurring back issue i've posted a bit about in sports sub for about 2 years - got a referral to a specialist and 2 x MRI scans a few weeks back, have a follow up appointment today to discuss results, best part of £1200 covered entirely under insurance. My NHS GP has sent me away and told me to take paracetomal for months on end, then naproxen and the referral to an NHS osteo/physio specialist has never materialised despite chasing a few times.

While a lot of off the shelf cover doesn't allow pre-existing conditions, employment ones seem to, all pre-existing conditions are covered under the wifes work one - worth seeing if yours is the same.
 
I have had it for about 7 years through work but never used it. Unfortunately its probably the cheapest one that works on a referral so i have to get to see my GP then they give me a referral then i can call the PMI and they sort me out.. But getting to see the GP and getting them to write me a referral is a bloody nightmare.. :( I think it costs my work about £600 a year.
 
FL630 said:
Well worth the money I spend on it each month.

I had a sudden and random illness last year, fees were £3500 in total, covered by health insurance, but I was seen, tested and fixed within 2 weeks. Worth every penny.
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On flip side I also had some issues this year. Annoyingly waiting for my probation to finish before private health care kicked in.

Cost me 2k ish because the NHS is so so slow I couldn't handle the anxiety of waiting for scans etc.

Id never had an issue medically until then. And boy, I was glad I didn't have to depend on the NHS. (ie I had enough salary to go private).


Certainly not something I'd swap for cash!

Old thread bump. Sorry person I quoted!


Just to put hard numbers on.
From GP to actually getting MRI results was 6 months.
You can pay for a private and get the results in 1 week for 375. Luckily MRI scans are relatively cheap even private.

That's the shocking state of NHS and why I feel the NHS is dying a slow death. Technically it's still available. But wait times are getting worse and worse. It's genuinely costing lives.

Fortunately scans were clear. And didn't need private treatment!
 
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I get Aviva through work, think it costs be about £20 a month in tax which is nothing. 24/7 digital GP which I've used a few times normally get an appointment within a couple of hours.

I've had a couple of hundred quid's worth of physio sessions as well for dodgy shoulders.

If you can get it for less than most people spend on a single takeaway it's a no brainer.
 
Like with most people, me included you'll probably never use it for a decade then one day something happens and you're very thankful for it. I was.

The issue of course is we shouldn't have to, we pay N.I but guess it's simply not enough right now.

And the 2nd issue is the more people that use private the more it'll turn into a **** show like the NHS, as it gets more busy, more call centres to cope, more waiting and more expense for less service, less exclusive and such.
 
I've now moved jobs (made redundant from the last one) and my current employer doesn't offer health insurance until I have been there a year.

It has coincided with my local GP falling apart. It's impossible to get an appointment. The NHS is falling apart :(

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Hades said:
I've now moved jobs (made redundant from the last one) and my current employer doesn't offer health insurance until I have been there a year.

It has coincided with my local GP falling apart. It's impossible to get an appointment. The NHS is falling apart :(

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I've been 5th in the queue at my gp and still sent to the out of hours.
Yet they keep building more houses!

I even spent 3 weeks at my parents, they live rurally and thier NHS GP surgery is much better. I went home because of this.

I was 40th in the queue there and still got a choice of times and a choice of GP!
 
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