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Private Health insurance

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Aprilfool62
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Private Health insurance

#137618

Postby Aprilfool62 » May 8th, 2018, 6:54 pm

I've just had my renewal from Aviva and its gone up quite a lot. I know it increases as you get older I just didnt think I was that old. Or perhaps I am. Does anyone else have PHI- any recommendations?

April

Dod101
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Re: Private Health insurance

#137622

Postby Dod101 » May 8th, 2018, 7:41 pm

Best recommendation I can think of is to question whether you really need it? For myself I inherited cover after I stopped working and kept it going for a few years, never having had any need for it. Then I decided to stop paying after I thought it was too expensive. For a while I saved the premiums in a separate account and then decided just to pay for anything 'out of the till'. It is pretty much elective surgery that you are paying for so maybe a hip replacement or a new knee. In fact I have had both hips done on the NHS and it was fine in both cases, a longer wait no doubt but so what?

I really do not know why people bother with private health insurance.

Dod

kiloran
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Re: Private Health insurance

#137629

Postby kiloran » May 8th, 2018, 8:27 pm

Dod101 wrote:I really do not know why people bother with private health insurance.
Dod

That's my view.
Any insurance is based on the premise that the insurance company expects to make a profit, so I only use insurance where it is mandatory (such as car insurance) or where any uninsured loss would be massive (such as house insurance). When I retired, I was gobsmacked at the cost of replacing my employer-provided health insurance.

My wife and I have paid our own way with private medical work and saved an absolute fortune in premiums. And of course the NHS is always there for emergencies and major surgery.

--kiloran

Lootman
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Re: Private Health insurance

#137635

Postby Lootman » May 8th, 2018, 8:43 pm

I am with a different insurer but what I have noticed is that it does not go up in a linear way. Rather it goes up slowly for a few years and then goes up a lot at "milestone" birthdays like 50 and 60. I just figured that they assess risk factors on age ranges.

XFool
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Re: Private Health insurance

#138689

Postby XFool » May 13th, 2018, 12:21 am

Lootman wrote:I am with a different insurer but what I have noticed is that it does not go up in a linear way. Rather it goes up slowly for a few years and then goes up a lot at "milestone" birthdays like 50 and 60. I just figured that they assess risk factors on age ranges.

Long ago now I remember I thought about HI (I mean literally thought about it!) and the obvious thought was: Everybody dies in the end. Most people die through being pretty 'unwell' and you generally start to get more 'unwell' as you get older, so...

Look at it this way, how would your car insurance premium go if you went from having an incident every decade or so to, every year, to every month, to every week, to every day, to... ?

I didn't give much more thought to HI.

vrdiver
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Re: Private Health insurance

#138691

Postby vrdiver » May 13th, 2018, 1:22 am

I had health insurance through work. When I managed to break a few bones in an accident, the NHS picked me up off the road with accompanying light and sound show and had me pinned back together within 24 hours. I briefly fell in love with the lady who kept coming in to give me morphine, but I think I would have married anyone who made the pain go away the way she did!

12 months later I wanted some of the metal work removed as it was causing some problems: the NHS was a bit slow to do this, but the PHI was fine about it and booked me in at my convenience.

Mrs VRD was ill and we talked through with a specialist about whether to go private or NHS. We were warned that some NHS practices would not continue treatment if it had been started privately and that whilst "politics" shouldn't affect treatment, sadly it did in certain instances.

Her treatment was available immediately under the NHS, and was very good (as far as I could tell). The private facilities were nicer, but the surgeon would have been the same person and the key nurse that was assigned to her was brilliant - empathetic and always available to talk to.

I often think that private health insurance is primarily for the benefit of employers who want to get you back to work asap. It does come with bells and whistles, but when you are ill, really ill, they're not so important.

Once retired, I too was stunned at the cost of keeping PHI going, even with offers of continuity discounts from my employer's scheme. I declined it on the basis that the NHS does the really important stuff quite well, whilst I can live with the less-than-perfect delivery of other services. I'm much more likely to get a surprise trip to A&E than to book a procedure, and as others have said, when (if) I do book it privately, I'll use pay-as-you-go if the NHS is unable to accommodate my (very flexible!) schedule.

As an aside, my PHI used to offer "well man" (and well woman) checkups. I found out that I can get most of these tests done by my GP if I ask (helps if you are over 50...).

VRD

Aprilfool62
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Re: Private Health insurance

#139003

Postby Aprilfool62 » May 14th, 2018, 3:23 pm

Thanks for your replies it has really made me think about the NHS and getting older. My first husband was terminally ill and had a bad experience with the NHS. Two of my close friends had cancer and were very grateful for their PHI. I myself had a procedure last year which was sorted quickly through PHI. I am keeping it for now but will stop at some point - just not sure when.

April

stewamax
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Re: Private Health insurance

#148471

Postby stewamax » June 27th, 2018, 9:16 pm

When I ceased to be employed and ran my own business, I continued with BUPA at a discounted rate but moved to 'Local Hospital Care' (this doesn't cover outpatient consultant fees and the like.)
Latterly the price had become unaffordable so I asked BUPA if I could take the largest excess available - on the basis that I only really want cover for those things that are seriously expensive and need doing quickly, with me covering the rest. Surprise: the largest excess was £500. So I elected to cease the policy when - more surprises - another range of policies was conjured up that offered pretty much the same cover as Local Hospital Care but have a maximum excess of £2000 (more like what I was after) and a no-claims discount scheme. And - even more surprises - it is less than half the price...

dionaeamuscipula
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Re: Private Health insurance

#152683

Postby dionaeamuscipula » July 16th, 2018, 2:55 pm

If people think their UK PHI is expensive, then have a look at the costs in the US.

PHI care in the UK is primarily for acute care and not chronic. Some people in my employee group use it *a lot*, many others never use it at all.

The cost of coverage varies with:

claims history
age of people covered
the discount applied
and of course what is included or excluded from their menu of options.

It is perfectly normal for the supplier to just stick in say a 20% increase for no reason at all. As with many other insurances, loyalty doesn't typically pay.

We used to be with Aviva and are now with Vitality. The other biggies are BUPA and AXA PPP. We quite like Vitality for its range of add ons, but I suspect there is little to choose between them when at the coal face.

DM

Lootman
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Re: Private Health insurance

#152691

Postby Lootman » July 16th, 2018, 3:29 pm

dionaeamuscipula wrote:If people think their UK PHI is expensive, then have a look at the costs in the US.

For individual plans in the US, yes, especially if you are older. But with an employer-provided group plan, the costs are much lower, and subsidised by the employer as well.

My wife had a policy that cost her about 100 pounds a month. Hardly a lot considering the amount of some potential claims.

Likewise MediCare and MediCaid, plus VA, pick up most of the rest.

Employed Americans are generally in good shape regarding healthcare insurance, and can reasonably expect a higher standard than the NHS. It is those who are jobless but not yet 65 who struggle with the costs.

greenrobbie
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Re: Private Health insurance

#152712

Postby greenrobbie » July 16th, 2018, 5:30 pm

There is a halfway house, using a friendly society such as Benenden (looking hem up, I see they are now a limited company). Low fees, about £11 a month, and access to a specialist for a consultation if NHS wait is more than three weeks. Doesn't cover cancer treatment, heart attacks, emergency treatment etc etc and most services are on a discretionary basis. Still worth looking into as a low-cost backstop to the NHS.


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