Those of you that pay out of pocket for private health insurance how much do you pay and is it worth it?
Posted by Brownchoccy@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 36 comments
I’m 30M and have a one or two things diagnosed but nothing crazy and I’m seriously considering private health insurance because the state of the NHS is awful. I’m also looking to put my mum on (if possible) she’s 57, has a few health issues and takes loads of tablets but again nothing extremely concerning. I know pre existing won’t be covered.
Does anyone have a price guide? Is it worth it as well for those of you that have actually used it? Someone said I’m looking at about £75 per month per person, does that sound accurate? I think BUPA, AXA and WPA have been recommended to me. I used AXA travel insurance I believe when I ended up in hospital in Asia travelling and they were very easy to deal with and paid out promptly twice.
decentlyfair@reddit
We have insurance and have had for about 4 years. Our premiums are fairly high as we are 54 and 61 so obviously age has an impact and we also have full cancer cover. I have never used it but keep it up as we have no pre-existing conditions and the fact we haven’t claimed helps keep our premiums at the same level every year.
IllustriousTitle1453@reddit
Can I be blunt and ask how much you are paying and which insirance is it? And it’s a fact right, if you don’tnclaim your premiums dont go up as mush. This is something me and my wife are having discussions over.
decentlyfair@reddit
£140 for the two of us, it has full cancer cover but not mental health stuff.
IllustriousTitle1453@reddit
Thats very good. Our BUPA is much more expensive. Recently we tried ti swith but my oreexisting conditions will not be covered. Which comoany are you with?
decentlyfair@reddit
Was with Aviva but they kept putting the price up despite not claiming a bean. So we switched to vitality. Maybe our good price is that neither of us has anything really wrong apart from husband has slightly high blood pressure and asthma.
IllustriousTitle1453@reddit
Thank you!
Emotional-Carry7454@reddit
I was in a similar spot trying to decide if private health insurance actually made sense, especially with NHS wait times. I ended up checking insurewithmercy.org to compare real costs and plan differences instead of just guessing based on names, and it really helped me see what actual premiums and benefits look like without getting overwhelmed.
That gave me a clearer picture of whether a £75/mo estimate was realistic and what kinds of coverage (and exclusions like pre‑existing stuff) really matter.
mooki5@reddit
I have myself and my child on Vitality - I currently pay £700 going up to £770 for the Bronze membership. Never used it but you can speak to a doctor face to face online pretty sharpish if needed. Some nice perks with vitality too, discount on spa and stays with Champneys. (Also never used it) .
peppermint_aero@reddit
Is that per year, or per month?
mooki5@reddit
Per year
peppermint_aero@reddit
Thanks
Obvious-Water569@reddit
I get Bupa through my work and i've tried using it a couple of times.
Honestly, despite it's flaws, the NHS has done a better job for me than Bupa has for the last couple of years. If I was paying for it, I'd be cancelling it pretty sharpish.
osmin_og@reddit
You still pay taxes on it. In almost all cases private health insurance is a benefit in kind, i.e. treated as your additional income so you pay taxes.
Obvious-Water569@reddit
Yes, you're quite right, but it's a miniscule amount.
Equivalent_Word3952@reddit
This is the same for me - private care is not fit for purpose
Comprehensive_You42@reddit
I get private healthcare through work. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2007, played rugby until recently so I have a series of orthopaedic malfunctions you might expect for a 47 yr old who enjoys throwing his body at people.
Private healthcare has been good for the rugby damage, and occasionally useful for mental health care, and utterly pointless for the chronic stuff like MS.
Also, it’s a real journey to navigate, and runs the risk of a bill coming unexpectedly because you’ve exhausted your coverage.
We all get frustrated by the NHS, it’s better than the alternatives.
dapperdan8@reddit
I’m the same regarding rugby injuries, the physio at the club was so happy finding out I had PMI as the timescale for getting scans on various knackered appendages is a matter of days / weeks, not months like the NHS.
Comprehensive_You42@reddit
One of my work friends played Rugby League to a good standard through his teens, and absolutely destroyed himself. He’s got great value from the PMI.
I get the impression that that Orthopaedics for anything that isn’t a new hip is lower priority for the NHS compared to other areas.
lastlaugh1@reddit
Doesn’t it worry anybody about queue jumping? Those private doctors and nurses are trained by us - and not sure but I reckon that’s true for radiography etc. I’d feel bad getting quicker care if others were struggling because I had a little more money.
Amylou789@reddit
Some of it is about funding. I have friends that have seen a doctor who does both, and they have been told privately they could do it sooner but if they want NHS they need to wait as the current allocation of funding has been used up and it will be x weeks before it is renewed.
Comprehensive_You42@reddit
I’m not convinced by the ‘trained by us’ narrative, I’ve heard it a lot, and most of the medical staff my age paid a lot for their training, have the debt to show it, and don’t earn as well as if they had trained as an engineer or could in smaller economies elsewhere.
I do share the moral quandary about queue jumping, though the private providers of things like MRI scanning have their own sites, equipment and training programmes, so it’s not all leeching off the NHS.
5lipn5lide@reddit
I'm with Benenden Healthcare which is not private insurance as such. It's more of a health cover policy where if tests or surgery can't be offered on the NHS within a certain timeframe, then they will provide temporary cover for it in the private sector.
When my wife needed a minor op, she had a pre-op consultation, the op, and a post-op appointment at the local BUPA hospital.
It doesn't cover everything and they can be selective in what people can get but it's £16 a month so is more affordable as cover for certain things.
MaximumScary1290@reddit
We have Beneden at work, but as far as I know, all they can do is push you up a waiting list. Which i never used when i needed spinal surgery. I don't think I can get my husband onto it as I dont think it covers spouses.
Capable-Campaign3881@reddit
For a health insurance plan that sounds really good for £16 a month
CrispyPotatoPuff@reddit
I get Aviva through work and its helped in some ways, the problem is outpatient caps. Essentially on the policy its £1500, which has not increased in 4 years. Going private for anything more than a consult or two will burn through this quickly. I had suspected an issue was going to be a long term condition, and decided to get it diagnosed and treated through NHS instead. They've been nothing but brilliant.
If I was to need elective surgery for anything I think private would cover it, but for chronic/everyday issues I wouldn't bother.
Important_Highway_81@reddit
Private health insurance won’t generally cover you for a pre-existing condition at the time you take the policy out (there are exceptions, normally corporate plans), otherwise people would go “hey I need a hip replacement, I’ll pay £70 a month for a couple of months and get it done privately”. Is it worth it generally? If you’re generally fit and healthy then obviously not, if you develop a condition that needs relatively easy surgical intervention such as a joint replacement or hernia or need rapid access to diagnostics such as an MRI scan then yes. If you have complex or chronic illness then likely this may be beyond the scope of a private hospital to treat. Most insurance policies come with some form of co-pay for treatment and won’t cover things like long term prescriptions, and if you’re prescribed something privately there’s no obligation for your NHS GP to carry it on via shared care. It’s really a mixed bag.
Dazz316@reddit
I tried a while back via my works insurance I get. I had to get a doctors line that authorised BUPA access my medical records, because of the type of insurance this would need to be done on any individual claim I had.
I called the doctor and asked how much it cost, the overly (and infamously in my area) grump bitch of a receptionist said she'd get it written up. She said someone would be in touch. Nobody got in touch, I called back and was told the same. They called back and said it's ready to collect and would be NINTY FUCKING QUID. They agued I asked for it, i argued I asked for the price 3 times and never once said to go ahead. They gave up, I waited for the NHS which was a week for my frozen shoulder to get a steroid shot.
If I got to the point where the cost wasn't really much of a worry. I'd get it 100%. Better to have options on both sides. If I needed anything ongoing that the NHS were gonna be shit at. I'd look into it. otherwise, My wife's been in and out the hospital a ton, I've used it on occasion and I am fairly happy with them. I don't want to pay any extra
Lonely-Job484@reddit
Another option I've taken before is just to PAYG with private health. \~£200 or so for a private consultation with a specialist, and they'll prescribe as necessary (you always pay private prescription dispensing even with insurance, in my experience). Unless you need surgery it might end out cheaper, and is certainly more flexible - no need to get pre-auths and so on.
surgicalcoder@reddit
Some company policies cover pre existing, but most of the ones I've seen don't cover anything life long, chronic, or that doesn't have a cure, some have an exception for cancer (but not all)
I'm a diabetic, and anything related to diabetes they won't cover full stop.
Funtimetilbedtime@reddit
I (50f) and two under 18 dependents am with Aviva…everything covered from consultation to operation, costs £102pm. For £71 I could have done the 6 weeks waiting list on the NHS (I.e. if the NHS does not provide the care/operation within 6 weeks they will cover it). I went through a broker though to get the best deal.
ilikecocktails@reddit
I don’t pay for mine I get certain health insurance perks through my bank which I have used for therapy however a friend of mine has Bupa, his partner has it through work and he got added on for £50 a month and it’s paid for him to go to rehab and now therapy, get physio quickly, get MRI scans within a few days whereas it would have been months on NHS. He would probably say it was worth it
Pristine-Bet-5764@reddit
We was quoted £116 a month with bupa for family of 4, with quite a lot ongoing issues. So possibly could be cheaper if just covering yourself and mum
Brownchoccy@reddit (OP)
Would you mind putting here or pming me your provider please? Thank you!
buginarugsnug@reddit
It really depends what you want covered - adding things like MH and dental can bump premiums up, and they do get more expensive as you age so what you are paying this year will be significantly cheaper than in say 10 years time so there is that increase to factor in too. I'm 28 and my work pay £312 annually for basic cover with Vitality, I just pay the tax (through tax code adjustment). Someone who is in their late 50s would be paying between £700 and £800 annually for the same cover to give you a ball park figure.
Best thing to do is get quotes from different providers and weigh up coverage / excess / reviews as well as cost and bear in mind the yearly increases.
kryptonick901@reddit
That’s probably about right. I can’t remember r the exact figure, but we’re paying £120-130 per month for vitality for a family of 3.
I’d probably have gone elsewhere, but we had Vitality through my previous job and they allowed continued cover (ie cover ongoing things they treated previously) and other providers would have excluded things vitality already started treating.
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