Reply to: Private Health Insurance

[VectraMan]

I had surgery last year paid for by my employer's Aviva coverage. But I ended up in an NHS hospital with NHS nurses though I did get a private room. And as it turned out Aviva didn't quite pay for it all; because the surgeon worked to BUPA rates and not to Aviva rates (which are less) it ended up costing me £380. Not a big deal, but something to bear in mind. As always with insurance cheapest isn't necessarily the best.

BTW this policy is "medical history disregarded" - i.e. doesn't matter about pre-existing conditions. Not sure you can get that for yourself.

[DimPrawn]

Why the hell do people go into a caring profession if they don't care?

To get into the UK with a work permit.

[Halo Jones]

keep your eye on those premiums !

Yay for permie benefits (yes I know I pay tax on it but ‘tis still cheaper than a direct policy)

[pjclarke]

BUPA not so super

Was reviewing my bank statements and noticed that BUPA had silently ratcheted up our premiums by over 20% in 18 months, to 268 for a family of three. Long story short, a log on to Money Saving Expert and their associated comparison service Family Insurance Service, about 20 minutes on the phone to a broker and we're switching to Aviva, like for like, medical history preserved for 145 / month with 2 months free for switching. Result.

We're all healthy non-smokers with no claims, so others may have different options, but I think the message is: keep your eye on those premiums and use those options!

[craig1]

Yes and no. I heard (on the radio) a terrible account of a woman with cancer who was treated very cruelly by the nurses on night shift because she'd had the temerity to ask for a glass of water or ring the bell or request her soiled bed was changed (something trivial IIRC). It was one of the most awful things I've ever heard and this wasn't just one nurse one night ...

EDIT: here's her writing in the Indie
A crisis in nursing: Six operations, six stays in hospital

EDIT: and to listen to it,
BBC iPlayer - Four Thought: Series 2: Christina Patterson: Care to be a Nurse?

The example I'd use on that was I went to see my gran in hospital a few years ago, there was an old man shouting out loudly for help and being ignored by the team of nurses hanging around the nurse station. After about 5 minutes of this noise after we arrived, my sister went to see what was wrong and the guy was covered in all sorts of mess, his food was on the floor and he'd clearly messed himself. The nurses said they'd put him in his own room because he was so needy. My sister got took down the name of the supervising nurse from her name badge, the nurses around and the name of the doctor over the guy's bed and told them that she was going to call a journalist from the local paper down to take pictures. Strangely enough, the guy was cleaned up and had a nurse hand-feeding him his lunch, all within a couple of minutes of my sister getting annoyed.

Just like when running a project, if you have wilful malingerers you must work with then you micro-manage them to the point that they work because they hate you but you're micromanaging them so much they can't screw up deliberately.

Unfortunately, if you're in that hospital bed, you'll need someone to do the micro-managing for you. My uncle did it for my gran on that time, he had daily meetings with the ward consultant where he went through his notes on positive care and negative care he'd seen. Other patients' family just seemed too intimidated by these people to speak up.

Why the hell do people go into a caring profession if they don't care?

[Platypus]

The trick with medical "professionals" who are not doing their job is the same as any other jobsworth looking for reasons not to work, if they won't do the work or the work is shoddy then ask them their name and be obvious about writing it down. If they ask what you're doing "Journalling what's happening in case I need to sue for medical malpractice". You won't improve their attitude but you will get an extra amount of "priority care".

Yes and no. I heard (on the radio) a terrible account of a woman with cancer who was treated very cruelly by the nurses on night shift because she'd had the temerity to ask for a glass of water or ring the bell or request her soiled bed was changed (something trivial IIRC). It was one of the most awful things I've ever heard and this wasn't just one nurse one night ...

EDIT: here's her writing in the Indie
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...h-7628092.html

EDIT: and to listen to it,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...to_be_a_Nurse/

[craig1]

The trick with medical "professionals" who are not doing their job is the same as any other jobsworth looking for reasons not to work, if they won't do the work or the work is shoddy then ask them their name and be obvious about writing it down. If they ask what you're doing "Journalling what's happening in case I need to sue for medical malpractice". You won't improve their attitude but you will get an extra amount of "priority care".

I had to go into hospital for hamstring reconstruction (one tendon snapped off the bone) and one private nurse administered morphine to me when my notes stated quite clearly I was intolerant to it, my wife got her name and made it abundantly clear that any adverse consequences were entirely going to be on her shoulders as well as any doctor that should have been supervising. I had more direct care then than almost any other time in my life.

[MyUserName]

Nurses in hospitals are hard working angels.

These ones were not. I am not sure if they had a grudge because she was an elected C-section due to a previous injury or not.

They did not bother giving her pain killers, did not change the (sorry, forgotten what it is called) tube which was inside her. I pointed out to one of them that the blood was dried and crusted inside the tube and the replacement was over due by several hours. She sharply bit my head off and replied "well of course it needs changing" and then walked off without doing anything. It only got sorted a couple of hours later when my brother in law arrived to visit and, being as he worked there as a HCA, was able to explained that he was going to do the replacement himself if they didn't.

Honestly, I am a fairly happy person but even thinking about this enough to type it is sending me into a rage.

Seriously when I had an op and the few times relations of mine have been inpatients I've been so glad for some of the Eastern European and Filipino nurses.

I am sure there are some great ones but apart from the drama with micro MUN (described above) we had an issue with mini MUN where they literally forgot to investigate a genetic issue in Mrs MUN's family which killed her sister when she was a few days old. A week before due date they suddenly realised that they should have been giving Mrs MUN tests every two weeks and had a mad flap about it. They needed to test the baby as soon as it was born which cut down on the painkillers Mrs MUN could have and eventually caused her to give birth having only had paracetamol and she suffered a third degree tear.

[Pondlife]

Sorry I should have explained better - relative went private without insurance - i.e. paid for the appointment and scan...... Our experience of private is that it is very efficient and easy.

Ah, understood. I did the same and would agree with your relative's experience. Not as expensive as I thought but it was for something minor.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Maybe it's the wording you've used but why didn't they treat this as a pre-existing condition?

Not having a pop at your relative but I'm a bit surprised that the insurance would cover it. Sounds a bit like joining the AA when you're stranded on the motorway.

Sorry I should have explained better - relative went private without insurance - i.e. paid for the appointment and scan...... Our experience of private is that it is very efficient and easy.

[Pondlife]

Relative currently went private to sort out a medical issue,

Maybe it's the wording you've used but why didn't they treat this as a pre-existing condition?

Not having a pop at your relative but I'm a bit surprised that the insurance would cover it. Sounds a bit like joining the AA when you're stranded on the motorway.

[cailin maith]

Mrs MUN was out 2 or 3 days after micro MUN (C-section). It was earlier than it should have been due to incompetent nurses not understanding a date on a form but she was so desperate to get away from the malicious, lazy bitches who were supposedly looking after her we almost ran out before they could sort their mistake out.

It's a shame her experience was so tulipty.

I've not had any lazy or malicious ones, a few overworked and stressed ones though and mistakes do happen. I was glad to be fully on the ball when i was there.

Likewise - I spent nearly 2 weeks in hospital before and after having Jnr due to various complications and the nurses were great.

[woohoo]

We have BUPA cover through the missuses company for several years.

In general the level of care has been very good. Very short wait to see consultants and the hospital/nurses seem to be of a good standard. I'm always impressed that the receptionist are polite and helpful My health has been directly improved because of the level of care.

They also have a GP service, which means I can cut out my local GP for most things. My local GP service is poor.

But BUPA are cutting down on the consultants on their approved list, so it seems the more expensive consultants are being cut from the list.

You also need to call BUPA for an authorisation code before treatment, which can be a pain if you need to have several appointments. You can get an authorisation code for a procedure and follow up etc but don't assume that this code covers everything. I'm having to pay £220 out of my own pocket because of confusion about this.

The hospital/doctor and BUPA seem unable to communicate with each other. I've literally spent hours on the phone trying to sort unpaid invoices out. Don't give the hospital your credit card details

For most things you need a letter from your GP before you can use the BUPA service. My GP can be a real pain about this.

[techno]

Thanks for this.

How much should I expect to be paying and which package would I go for? Young family (early 30's) with 2 children.

When I first signed up the family ages were 39, 37, 7, 4. I did this as a company policy and the product from Aviva was called Core Solutions. It was pretty good as it had "modules" you could add in or take out (e.g. dentistry or physciatric).

Premium was £107 per month.

This has increased year on year and now they want to bump it up to £243 per month hence looking elsewhere.

As someone has said this can cause an issue of "prior conditions" not being covered but as the missus is getting a clean bill of health for the last couple of years we are thinking it is worth the change (as she's monitored six monthly then if any problems she would be straight in under NHS in any case as its cancer related) so looking at AXA.

As with any insurance it's all about risk...within a year of starting the insurance the missus went in for a routine op and that's when they found the cancer so we were really lucky as without the insurance she wouldn't have had the operation until she was 50 (that's what the NHS advised) and who knows how the cancer would have spread...so like I say its been worthwhile for us.

[Platypus]

Not sure I'd bother if I was < 40 and in good health

^agree