Private Medical Insurance ?

[Mike]

Hi all

Does any have private medical insurance and if so with who ?

I am told PPP is better than Bupa but would welcome any views.

Thanks

Mike

[Caspar]

I've just started employment, a few months back and waiting for my health to come through... but I do know the company pays £600 pa for it.

...and FYI I'm also told it does not cover dental treatment.

[paulyoung666]

i dont , but from experiences i have heard of , you need to read the small print very very carefully to make sure you get exactly what you think you might need , if i might ask you a question , why do you feel the need for it ???????? , especially as you are already paying for the nhs , and please people dont turn this into an nhs bashing thread

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by Mike

Hi all

Does any have private medical insurance and if so with who ?

I am told PPP is better than Bupa but would welcome any views.

Thanks

Mike

I perfer standard life healthcare to bupa:-

http://uk.standardlifehealthcare.com/content/index.html

[Stu038]

Mines through work with Cigna, and they've been superb.
The only problem I've had in the last three years was employer related, and they assisted in overcoming the difficulties that occurred then.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

i dont , but from experiences i have heard of , you need to read the small print very very carefully to make sure you get exactly what you think you might need , if i might ask you a question , why do you feel the need for it ???????? , especially as you are already paying for the nhs , and please people dont turn this into an nhs bashing thread

Paul is aware of my reasons

[Tricky]

Depends who is paying - If its a company scheme you probably don't have a choice, it's then down to who offers the most benefits - Some restrict your "Out-Patient" benefit to around £600-£900pa. which sounds a lot but 90% of visits to private medical docs are as out-patient unless you are unfortunate enough to be seriously ill. Most visits depending on the speciality cost approx £100-£200 per visit therefore your outpatient benefit won't last long! - I was lucky I saw a consultant on BUPA who said "Don't pay through this, now I've seen you you can get a regular appointment with me at the NHS"

[highlandlassie]

I was with Bupa - never had any problems, bill was paid within 4 weeks. Now with PPP and they are slow when making payments - 6 months down the line the hospital were looking for the bill to be paid

My sisiter is also with PPP and she is different from me - if she has to spend a night in NHS hospital she only gets £50 per night. I get £100 per night

both were through hubbys work - I can get Norwich Union through my own work

[Aragorn]

Never had a problem with Bupa (company scheme with £1000 out-patients cover/pa). Previously we had Remedi who were not much good, IMHO.

We had to use a fair amount of the out-patient budget last year and all the doctors claim direct from Bupa - no paper work or anything for us to do
HTH

[Rob]

Recently I had a back problem, that made it virtually impossible to breathe. The GP prescribed painkillers. Great, didn't solve the problem, just made me feel dizzy as well. Phoned a Chiropractor who saw me fast. Immediately became apparent that manipulation was needed, and there was a dramatic improvement after just one session. Yes maybe I'd have got phisiotherapy on the NHS, but when? PPP required a GP referral before they would pay out (policy arranged and paid for by my employer). That cost me a fee to my GP, which wasn't recoverable.

So watch out for those hidden costs, and make sure you read the small print.

[etccarmageddon]

Her indoors is with Standard Life Healthcare and Im with Bupa, her cover is so much better, she has NO LIMITS on OUT-PATIENT treatment (except physio and alternatives, which I think is £1000 per policy year) and thats a mid range policy, bills have been paid within 10 days, also all standard life healthcare's call centres are UK based, and she says the customer service she has recieved has been excellent, so she strongly recommends them to anyone, I wouldnt personally recommend Bupa, but mines with work so can't change!
Also worth noting that some consultants favour Bupa, this is because they have a deal with bupa to charge certain rates, then at the end of each year Bupa pay them an extra percentage of what they have paid them in total to keep them sweet.

[sonygeezer]

I have a Family cover paid for by work with Norwich Union last year my wife injured her back and they paid out over £3,500 in fees and all we had to do was ring them before any treatment and they okayed it over the phone, no problem.

[Paul M]

I get BUPA medical insurance [free] via work, which covers myself and my family. So far I have only had to use it to claim for my daughters overnight stay for an operation on a broken arm. No problems were encounted with the claim.