Private Healthcare UK

Randy

Well-known member
Myself and the missus have just had a conversation about private healthcare and we are strongly considering signing up to a private healthcare provider.
Does anybody on here have any experience of it in this country? We'd be looking to cover myself, my wife and my two kids, ideally with dental costs and potential cancer costs included.

Thoughts?
 
Prisoner you are been ironic aren't you?

I reckon more like £80 a month (thats without dental) - I assume you and your wife and around 48 to 50 and your children are 12 to 15 and all are in very good to excellent health.
 
Prisoner you are been ironic aren't you?

I reckon more like £80 a month (thats without dental) - I assume you and your wife and around 48 to 50 and your children are 12 to 15 and all are in very good to excellent health.
No we are a young family, both under the age of 35 and my kids under the age of 5.
 
In the longer term I wonder how much private insurance and health is going to boom in this country following covid.

The gross underfunding of NHS has already led to a shortage of staff and long waiting lists. Cancelled routine surgery/ treatment has led to an additional 1 year+ waiting list on top of what was already there.

May be a sensible investment if you don't want to wait 2-3 years to be seen for routine care in some areas.

It saddens me writing this, as I am a big NHS advocate, but everything being on hold for the last year means paying private is the only way you can jump what in an ever increasing queue.
 
My Mrs gets private health care as part of her and job and added me and the young un and it cost an additional £65 a month (I'm not sure what her taxable benefit is for hers, but I think it's about £3,500 a year making the cost around £100 a month).

Used it a couple of times, my wife broke her ankle a couple of years ago, through her insurance she got all her physio provided one on one at the local Bupa and also got £100 a night for her stay in hospital.

The other time was when our son was 5 and he kept getting tonsillitis (he had 14 times in 18 months), it got to the point where he would stop telling us he had a sore throat because he didn't like the medicine. After many trips to the GPS they referred him for a tonsillectomy but of course there was a waiting list, we used our insurance and it was all done and sorted within a fortnight and his personality changed almost straight away as he stopped being ill.

I suppose in an ideal world we wouldn't have needed the medical insurance but unfortunately we live in a world which is far from perfect.
 
Been with many over the years
Currently with BUPA (paid for by company)
I get my annual assessment and,fortunately, haven’t used it for anything else (Neither have my family)

All much of a muchness to be fair.

Got some ’medical‘ friends who swear by the mantra if you are involved in serious ’trauma’ you will never beat NHS.
But, For the non immediate stuff, Private could serve you well
 
In the longer term I wonder how much private insurance and health is going to boom in this country following covid.

The gross underfunding of NHS has already led to a shortage of staff and long waiting lists. Cancelled routine surgery/ treatment has led to an additional 1 year+ waiting list on top of what was already there.

May be a sensible investment if you don't want to wait 2-3 years to be seen for routine care in some areas.

It saddens me writing this, as I am a big NHS advocate, but everything being on hold for the last year means paying private is the only way you can jump what in an ever increasing queue.
This was the focus of our conversation last night. I'm looking ahead into the future, the waiting lists are getting longer and longer. I don't mind adding another monthly payment to the household if it means my family will receive the best possible health care as and when they ever need it.
As mentioned we are all healthy but you never know what's round the corner.
 
Had it from the company for over 20 years and never used it for me or the family luckily, get it now from the company and haven't used it.
 
Had it through work for donkeys years and used it a couple of times for major ops. first time early diagnosis and op could well have saved me from a long term disability. Packed in work, but now pay myself for continuous cover to keep the previous problems covered.

Mrs the same but has never used it. If you’re young and have no pre-existing conditions then it’s a good time to get covered. I’m with WPA and they’re pretty good.
 
This was the focus of our conversation last night. I'm looking ahead into the future, the waiting lists are getting longer and longer. I don't mind adding another monthly payment to the household if it means my family will receive the best possible health care as and when they ever need it.
As mentioned we are all healthy but you never know what's round the corner.

1finny summed up my thoughts. The NHS is amazing for acute emergency medicine. Anything routine is a wait. Depending on where you live depends on how long that wait is. If it is a routine knee replacement you require in Cambridgeshire it may be 9 months in one hospital or over 2 years estimated for an initial consultation in another. The private hospital round the corner with the same consultants is 2 weeks.
 
I'm with AXA PPP via work so I get mine for free as a benefit, I then top up by about £120 per month to have the rest of the family (wife & 2 kids) on my policy. We've all used it and it's been great.

I think £120 may be a lot to pay out, but the level of cover we get is huge.

Both the wife and I have had recent MRI's privately which was organised in a matter of days, and the insurance has covered all costs. I had to have a brain, neck and inner ear MRI which took nearly an hour in the MRI scanner at a cost of about £900. all covered, no questions asked.
 
1finny summed up my thoughts. The NHS is amazing for acute emergency medicine. Anything routine is a wait. Depending on where you live depends on how long that wait is. If it is a routine knee replacement you require in Cambridgeshire it may be 9 months in one hospital or over 2 years estimated for an initial consultation in another. The private hospital round the corner with the same consultants is 2 weeks.
Agree too, but if the delay is to get the initial diagnosis that can be even more problematic. I had a ‘routine’ pain, got an MRI scan in a couple of weeks (waiting lists were forever pre Blair queue reductions). Turns out if I’d waited Longer for the diagnosis I could have been in big trouble.
 
I also agree with what has been said. For emergencies, immediate help or for anything serious, the NHS is fabulous. Routine stuff you have to wait unfortunately.
 
[QUOTE="Cambsred, post: 180269, member: 921" The private hospital round the corner with the same consultants is 2 weeks.[/QUOTE]

And there you have one of the reasons for the long NHS waiting lists .... I'm not aware of any private hospital that contributes a single penny to training medical staff.
 
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