Health / medical insurance

[Mark T Jones]

Does anyone here have insight to health & medical insurance?

It's for my wife, who's business requires here to be healthy & active on a daily basis.

Shopping around, I've found a couple of aggregator sites and online brokers who are keen to point me to the cheapest and push me to sign.

what I'm looking for is a discussion around the variables, potential pitfalls and key considerations, prior to signing.

 

[DontAsk]

I used to have it through work. All I know is they will screw you if there's even a hint of an outstanding condition in your medical records and you then try to claim.

E.g., doctor says no problem, go away. Join the medical schema some time later and then some years later it's a real problem. Claim for treatment (surgery)? Sorry, it was an outstanding condition when you joined.

 

[WaveJumper]

I was the same had it through previous company and over the years its been either Bupa, AXA or Aviva. Did have to make use of it once to get eyes checked out and of course nipping in for private treatment was very good. as above you need to be careful of the any previous ailments etc. Overall our cover was very good covered the wife as well and worldwide travel so that was a real bonus.

Strangely enough its a bit of a topic of conversation in the household here due to some family members experience with the NHS of late. And only just in the last 24 hours my sisters husband was rushed in too hospital (yesterday lunch time) eventually got a bed at midnight and saw a doctor about 10.30 this morning.

On another note I pay for private dental cover and would never change that.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Hi @Mark T Jones ,

For an individual policy its not cheap! And expect the premium to go up considerably over time (we all get older = greater risk for insurers = higher premiums).

Huge amount of variables - some insurers start with a "basic" package of covers which you can then take a number of options to
1. reduce the premium - such as removing outpatient cover, applying an excess, cover for when nhs waiting list is over x weeks etc
2. increase the covers and premiums - such as inc mental health cover, optical/dental cover, including top london hospitals etc.

You also need to take care of the method of "underwriting" - it will usually be either:
1. FMU - Full Medical Underwriting. They will review your full medical history and advise you what is excluded (eg. pre-existing issues)
2. Moratorium - Insurers will provide full cover for any issues as long as you have not had it or sought medical advice on the issues in the last xxx years (Usually 3-5 years). This has the benefit that if you had a very old issue that was resolved and has been fine for over 5 years - this would be covered if it reoccurred!


All policies, regardless of insurer, will provide the same core cover - the policy will help and pay for medical costs of unforseen medical acute conditions. They will pay for the relevant tests and treatment. The difficulty in getting quotes is there are a huge amount of options that will vary these. You really need to read the details!


Reminder
Private Medical/Health Insurance is there for "acute" medical issues that can be helped in a managed and planned way - it does not provide any Emergency cover. In the event of an emergency you must use NHS A&E department.

Chronic conditions - ie. those requiring long term care and support are usually not covered by the policy. If these are "new conditions" the policy will pay for the initial medical investigations and treatment, but any long term care and support will be provided by the NHS (Note - with many insurers this does not apply in relation to Cancer, where the insurers will usually support you all the way through!)

Income Protection Insurance - this is different and will provide cover for loss of earnings if you cannot work due to a covered medical issue.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Hi @Mark T Jones ,

For an individual policy its not cheap! And expect the premium to go up considerably over time (we all get older = greater risk for insurers = higher premiums).

Huge amount of variables - some insurers start with a "basic" package of covers which you can then take a number of options to
1. reduce the premium - such as removing outpatient cover, applying an excess, cover for when nhs waiting list is over x weeks etc
2. increase the covers and premiums - such as inc mental health cover, optical/dental cover, including top london hospitals etc.

You also need to take care of the method of "underwriting" - it will usually be either:
1. FMU - Full Medical Underwriting. They will review your full medical history and advise you what is excluded (eg. pre-existing issues)
2. Moratorium - Insurers will provide full cover for any issues as long as you have not had it or sought medical advice on the issues in the last xxx years (Usually 3-5 years). This has the benefit that if you had a very old issue that was resolved and has been fine for over 5 years - this would be covered if it reoccurred!


All policies, regardless of insurer, will provide the same core cover - the policy will help and pay for medical costs of unforseen medical acute conditions. They will pay for the relevant tests and treatment. The difficulty in getting quotes is there are a huge amount of options that will vary these. You really need to read the details!


Reminder
Private Medical/Health Insurance is there for "acute" medical issues that can be helped in a managed and planned way - it does not provide any Emergency cover. In the event of an emergency you must use NHS A&E department.

Chronic conditions - ie. those requiring long term care and support are usually not covered by the policy. If these are "new conditions" the policy will pay for the initial medical investigations and treatment, but any long term care and support will be provided by the NHS (Note - with many insurers this does not apply in relation to Cancer, where the insurers will usually support you all the way through!)

Income Protection Insurance - this is different and will provide cover for loss of earnings if you cannot work due to a covered medical issue.

Thank you - this is the info I asked the 'broker' for and they singularly failed to provide. Much appreciated!

Re prices: is there typically an escalator, or is it a renewable policy?

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Re prices: is there typically an escalator, or is it a renewable policy?

They are annually renewable policies (And they will only get more costly each year!).

 

[antropy]

Strangely enough its a bit of a topic of conversation in the household here due to some family members experience with the NHS of late. And only just in the last 24 hours my sisters husband was rushed in too hospital (yesterday lunch time) eventually got a bed at midnight and saw a doctor about 10.30 this morning.

One of my employees had a similar experience yesterday which led us on to discussing private healthcare insurance.

Whatever your political views, I think it's fair to say the public services in the UK have all been starved of money for too long and we are not receiving the services we pay for through our taxes.

Paul.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Strangely enough its a bit of a topic of conversation in the household here due to some family members experience with the NHS of late. And only just in the last 24 hours my sisters husband was rushed in too hospital (yesterday lunch time) eventually got a bed at midnight and saw a doctor about 10.30 this morning.

If your sister's husband had private medical insurance, it would not have changed anything. Emergencies will still need to go into the NHS.

 

[Joseph Bartosiewicz]

Hey! In order not to create a new topic, I'm asking here. I need Private small business health insurance but I don't know which company to turn to. Who and what health insurance company use?

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Hey! In order not to create a new topic, I'm asking here. I need Private small business health insurance but I don't know which company to turn to. Who and what health insurance company use?

You need to speak to an Independent Financial Adviser - they will be able to carry out a quotation exercise and let you know the best quote that meets your needs.