Reply With QuoteThere was a piece in the Mail on Sunday about this very subject, they said Husband Wife two kids £134 per month
The hospital up here (Carlisle) isn't covering itself in much glory so I have been thinking of getting the family (me, wife and two kids) insured.
Does anyone have such cover, and give any suggestions? We are all fit and healthy (well, we think we are at least!!!!)
Clearly I will do as much research as possible, but I always find here a good place to get peoples thoughts.
Thanks in advance.
There was a piece in the Mail on Sunday about this very subject, they said Husband Wife two kids £134 per month
Ours is about 100 for two adults and one child. Doesn't include physio or dental and limit of 2 consultancies per person which costs about the same as the excess so it's only really a safety net for treatments.
Have recently found a good IFA and will be doing the next renewal through them rather than ourselves.
I looked into this a few years ago. I was surprised at how expensive it was for BUPA (over £2K a year for family from memory). A few patients have Benenden which seems to work well for them, but is discretionary and excludes quite a few things you might actually want to use it for. The other issue I have is that most company's premiums start to climb significantly as you get older or make any claims.
If you can afford it setting up a savings account will get you a fund of £5K after a few years which will pay for most of what you might want the insurance for. This is the route most of my medical colleagues seem to take, although to be fair sometimes we can get seen by friends although treatment and investigations all need paid for.
I had it for the last 25 years, never had to use it much so don't consider it good value for money, my kids are covered until they are 23, when they reach that age I will stop it.
A doctor friend says it is a complete rip off as the companies/hospitals can pick and choose, anything serious and your going to the NHS anyway, if it goes wrong in a private hospital and your going to the NHS. He got a quote for private health and has put that money into a savings plan to pay for any oporations or treatment , he says he is miles ahead and no insurance company has made money out of him.
You must be very youngOriginally Posted by wombleh
Private is good for one thing. Investigations. Need an MRI for example? It'll happen a lot quicker than the NHS
But treatment i'd much rather have in the nhs. Including all types of operations.
Get a quote from a specialist- try Usay Compare https://www.usaycompare.co.uk
I've had it for 30 years and used it 5/6 times. Company used to pay for it but now I pay myself. £160pm for wife and two kids. Wouldn't be without it. I'm with Aviva.
£5000 won't get you much nowadays privately. Stuff like hip replacements and heart ops are £10k plus. Large cancer claims are £50-100000- private insurance covers many drugs for cancer that the NHS won't pay for.
It is a luxury purchase because there is always the NHS but it has its weaknesses.
Last edited by craig1912; 19th January 2017 at 09:44.
...not sure why- i've had 5/6 ops all privately- Nothing really major but going private I chose where, when and who carried out the op. It's convenience, choice, private room, better food and cleaner environment.
I had two operations as a child, one private one NHS. Same consultant, same hospital. The private difference was that they did it when you wanted, not them, the food was better, the aftercare way more attentive and the facilities more pleasant.
I have insurance now through WPA, well rated. Cover for me, wife, two kids in leafy North Yorks costs £50/month in the first year, then £80/month after that. That's for everything apart from dental. Extra cancer drugs and surgery option ticked and lowest co-pay (excess). Pretty good I thought.
You don't choose with bupa, if they have a cheaper specialist they try to force you you use them
I've visited people at various private hospitals. Not sure how a carpeted room can be cleaner than a mop-able floor.
And if something goes wrong post op, you'll have an RMO (resident medical officer) to look after you until the consultant next visits. RMOs are almost always foreign trained doctors who cannot get a job in the NHS for whatever reason. They are responsible for large numbers of patients. They often work 24h shifts.
Each to their own. But go in with your eyes wide open.
I had a problem with my ear which required minor surgery and an overnight stay.
My GP told me that there was a 6 to 9 month waiting list for that operation.
When I mentioned that I had private health insurance, his next question was "would you prefer this Tuesday or this Thursday?"
Isn't that one of the fundamental reasons why the system is broken, if the doctors weren't so geedy they could spend that time working for the NHS, clearly they are not to tired to work effectively like they claim. Also I have often wondered how much the NHS are posing the private companies to take the overspill.
The rooms I've been in haven't had carpets.
I'm not knocking the NHS but it quite clearly can't cope (not sure Private hospitals cancel cancer ops at the last moment) and even the NHS is using private hospitals to treat patients. Yes some private hospitals lack experienced back up if things go wrong (but then why do death rates go up for weekend admissions in the NHS) and why are infection rates much lower in the private sector.
Private treatment is a choice that some people can choose to pay for and for me the advantages it has over the NHS in most circumstances is worth paying for.
....and in this mornings times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fi...ad699eb4594468
Last edited by craig1912; 19th January 2017 at 08:07.
Late 30s.
My little one had problems and the NHS wouldn't refer her to a specialist despite multiple a&e visits, eventually after a week stay in taunton hospital they gave us an appointment for 6 months later. Was driving us mad and costing a fortune in time off work. Private insurers got us one the next day and sorted it out straight away. Some may think it's a rip off or un necessary, I wouldn't be without it personally.
I work for a private healthcare provider so it's 'free' for me. Not used and hopefully won't but my wife has used it plenty. Went to GP, asked for a referral while I asked consultants secretary if he had any spaces on his clinic that did, so she had her consultation within an hour of seeing the GP, surgery two days later. It's good for some things but some insurers won't cover the top implants.
Ophthalmics for example, the surgeon may suggest a £400 lens but the insurers reckon £200 one will do just fine, it will be up to you to pay the difference.
a big portion of our work is NHS anyway, children especially
If you can afford it, it's a wise move I think. Try Aviva or Vitality instead of BUPA. You don't know what life will throw at you and savings of £10k won't last long if there's any major issue (involving expensive investigations/operations), not to mention huge NHS waiting times for everything. There are a lot of newer drugs that the NHS won't cover as they are not considered cost-effective by 'NICE'.
10k won't get you much. A hip replacement and you're done
I'm insured with Vitality which seem competitive . Costs around £60 a month inc.50% discount for good behaviour.
If you are reasonably healthy, your best bet is to self insure.
I got fed up with the premiums rocketing up in my early fifties and cancelled the BUPA and stashed the same amount of money away every month without fail. Also I increased it by 5% every year and now I have a 5 figure sum ready to fall back on if I need it. Private medicine insurance is fine for routine low cost ops such as hip replacement but it soon cuts off for long term care.
With respect - health can change in a blink of an eye and serious disease is VERY expensive to treat. NHS waiting times are the issue really - not NHS care (which is almost always excellent, depending on staffing levels).
Private Health Insurance just allows you to queue jump, which is the main benefit and often very convenient if you are in pain.
As others have said waiting list of 6 months or longer with NHS for minor operations, if you have private health care they'll have you in within a week.
Hi
I think you misunderstand me.
Private medicine is fine as a quick fix for routine mishaps. In order to survive it has to leave the high cost long term stuff to the NHS.
All I am saying is that self insurance is a viable alternative as a means to funding private medicine but the simple reality is that nearly everyone needs the NHS and the time has now come for an increase in funding.
Hip Operation- low cost?
Private Medical Insurance isn't and never has been designed to cover long term care- and your five figure sum won't go far (although 10000-99000 is quite a large range) for long term care either.
I'm happy paying my £160 a month for peace of mind, knowing that if I need treatment I'm not going to have to wait long for it, can choose a hospital I want for it, have a private room with decent food and not be subject to the vagaries of NHS rationing.
That's not been our experience.
I have BUPA through work and it's been very good - We've had a spate of leg injuries recently and our local Spire hospital specialises in such injuries. The same consultants would have treated us through the NHS, but things moved much quicker privately.
One rather galling thing was the local NHS hospital fleece you for parking, but when I took my wife to a private appointment there, they reimbursed our parking... I guess you pay one way or another, but...
M.
Last edited by snowman; 19th January 2017 at 11:48.
Did you know all the Spire hopsitals used to be BUPA hospitals? They sold off all their hospitals to focus on insurance and care homes. Maybe there's a special preference for BUPA at Spire?
I do think they (insurance companies) will look for the cheaper option where possible, in my experience they have dictated what they will fund and won't, sometimes to the detriment of the patient (or customer if you're on the insurance side)
I've had private health insurance for my family for a few years now, and it's been worth it for the peace of mind alone. The biggest advantage is skipping NHS wait times, especially for specialist consultations and scans. My wife needed an MRI last year, and she got it done within a week instead of waiting months. It's not always perfect, some policies don't cover everything. But having the option to get seen quickly makes a huge difference.
Compare different plans before deciding. I found a lot of useful information on health insurance options through https://premierpmi.co.uk/health-insurance/, which helped me find the best fit for my family.
Last edited by Breeze; 17th March 2025 at 12:18.
We started our second year with Aviva in October.
Renewal was up a touch, to £128 per month for Myself (59), wife and child under 10.
Just be warned if you follow this link you'll only find out until after it's too late that it's not an online process - you'll get a marketing/sales call. Not impressed at all.
I actually found USAY very helpful. They also contacted me before renewal to let me know that I could save £12 by moving my policy to another provider, but left the decision up to me.
So far since yesterday I've had five phone calls including one this morning on a phone number which usually gets two calls a month at most. They refuse to leave voicemails if the call is rejected & are are now just a complete nuisance. I wouldn't put any business their way whatever the saving.
Don't you think it's possible they contacted you to make sure they got their commission & there may have even been a sign up bonus if you'd moved to a new provider?
I couldn't disagree more - I needed a hip replacement following a motorbike accident. I'd fractured the cartilage which fell apart and dissolved over the next two years, leading to bone-on-bone and a remarkable level of pain. I could barely walk despite taking more dihydrocodeine than you can believe possible and was advised to start opioids, though I declined that. NHS would have taken several years to treat me and I'd not have had the choice of prosthetic or surgeon. There was also the problem that there was a prior operation needed to clear away damaged tissue from my hip before the joint could be addressed - there are only a handful of surgeons in the UK who could deal with this as it's (a) rare (b) fiddly.
My health insurance company signed off on £25k+ of operations, which were done by the surgeons I wanted, at the hospital I selected and at the time I wanted. I was back on a dirt bike under a month after the hip replacement.
Sure, the NHS is great if you've had a bad car smash, is pretty good for cancer treatment and will - once you get through the queue - treat you well at an A&E as a walk-in patient. But if you've got a longstanding issue - important but not urgent - it's absolutely useless. And even when they get round to dealing with, say, a hip operation, you get zero choice in what you get.
Value for money? Depends on whether you value time and quality as I do.
Just answer, or phone them and tell them not to contact you. Seems a simple fix.
Of course they would stand to gain from a commission, but equally I stood to gain from a cheaper premium and they've not badgered me at all, just agreed to contact me next year at the same time to let me know choices.
Exactly- tell them not to call and they won’t. It isn’t easy to take out private medical insurance online and impossible if it is an advised sale.
All brokers earn commission and yes more commission if they switch you to another insurer. They also have to tell you how much commission they earn.
Usay are the largest PMI broker for individual business in the country and will give good advice and guide you through the options, which are numerous.
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