Private Health Insurance

This comment/question/opinion has been racking my brain, In a country with "free medical care" why does one need to purchase PHI?

We had private health care because we didn’t want to wait for treatment as there can be long waiting lists with the nhs.

This comment/question/opinion has been racking my brain, In a country with "free medical care" why does one need to purchase PHI?

It took me almost a year before I was able to get registered with my GP, get an appointment, get a referral to a specialist and then finally get an appointment for IV iron infusions.

In that year, I barely existed. I was a shell of a person. A skeleton. Frozen solid from the inside. Chronically exhausted, see through skin, out of breath, restless leg syndrome and a whole host of other problems that come with a dangerously low iron count.

But hey... at least my iron infusions are free.

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My son recently developed a nasty case of pneumonia on a trip to the USA.  Upon return, our GP requested an urgent referral to a Pediatrician for our son for follow up care.  This was early March.  The appointment is at the end of May...

Private, we were able to be seen the next day.

Also there is LOADS not covered under the NHS.  But most Brits do NOT hold private insurance and are perfectly happy.

This comment/question/opinion has been racking my brain, In a country with "free medical care" why does one need to purchase PHI?

There is no need to buy PHI but over 4 million folks in the UK have it, most through their employer. The main use I see is for elective surgery such as hip and knee replacements. I know 2 folks who have gone private, one for his hip replacements and the other for her cataract surgery.

PHI is great for new issues when you need a specialist. Most do not cover pre existing conditions, so be sure to read all the fine print. More and more are saying they will never cover a pre existing condition vs not covering it for x number of years And paying for a specialist out of pocket is more expensive than in the US.

For my rare disease I'm basically screwed here. Anything acute, you should be all set on the NHS. Anything chronic, until it becomes acute there's not much help. Until I need a feeding tube they will not help me find liquid nutrition to supplement the little solid food I can eat for an ongoing GI issue - allergies mean the most common ones don't work for me. They won't refer me to the NHS physiotherapists actually versed in the condition, I have to go through the local ones that will cause more injury first. I just had to print out data from the hematology society here to tell them they are not following their own guidelines with me and that could be behind some of my current issues. I'm really unhappy with the NHS right now and wish I could afford private care!

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We had private health care because we didn’t want to wait for treatment as there can be long waiting lists with the nhs.

Thanks for the comment, I was aware of the long waits. I was told it would take me a year to see a dermatologist, I flew bck to states, staying with my son and had skin cancer surgery within 2 months.

It took me almost a year before I was able to get registered with my GP, get an appointment, get a referral to a specialist and then finally get an appointment for IV iron infusions.

In that year, I barely existed. I was a shell of a person. A skeleton. Frozen solid from the inside. Chronically exhausted, see through skin, out of breath, restless leg syndrome and a whole host of other problems that come with a dangerously low iron count.

But hey... at least my iron infusions are free.

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Wow, I knew the system was over-taxed there but this sounds like real emergency stuff here.

Thanks everyone for your responses, I am 100% covered for everything in the States, UK Citizen wife also, I heard many health stories in my short time I just wanted more info from the horses mouth . US/UK governments waste so many tax dollars on Bulls--t, Thanks was about to go on a rant after all don't we have to colonize Mars, inhabit the moon, take care of people who are experts at getting the govt. to take care of them, enough, thanks.

Thanks everyone for your responses, I am 100% covered for everything in the States, UK Citizen wife also, I heard many health stories in my short time I just wanted more info from the horses mouth . US/UK governments waste so many tax dollars on Bulls--t, Thanks was about to go on a rant after all don't we have to colonize Mars, inhabit the moon, take care of people who are experts at getting the govt. to take care of them, enough, thanks.

I had excellent health care and insurance in the US. What I have now is substandard compared to what I did have.

I would never move back to the US because I love Scotland too much but my health has suffered here.

I now have a long term plan to treat my chronic anaemia but the year I waited for treatment nearly killed me. (Both emotionally and physically.) I was at the point of giving up. I could barely make it out of bed in the morning. It took everything in me to continue on.

When my new hematologist saw what my iron level was she wondered how I made it so long. Low is an 11... my iron was a 3.

But in the eyes of the NHS, I wasn't emergent. I wasn't dying in that moment.

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I had excellent health care and insurance in the US. What I have now is substandard compared to what I did have.

I would never move back to the US because I love Scotland too much but my health has suffered here.

I now have a long term plan to treat my chronic anaemia but the year I waited for treatment nearly killed me. (Both emotionally and physically.) I was at the point of giving up. I could barely make it out of bed in the morning. It took everything in me to continue on.

When my new hematologist saw what my iron level was she wondered how I made it so long. Low is an 11... my iron was a 3.

But in the eyes of the NHS, I wasn't emergent. I wasn't dying in that moment.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

I am glad for your love of your new country, sad for what you have had to endure,  I am not adjusting well to N Ireland , love my wife  is happy to be home, and as long as I am healthy enough to get on a plane my health problems will be taken care of.

PHI is great for new issues when you need a specialist. Most do not cover pre existing conditions, so be sure to read all the fine print. More and more are saying they will never cover a pre existing condition vs not covering it for x number of years And paying for a specialist out of pocket is more expensive than in the US.

For my rare disease I'm basically screwed here. Anything acute, you should be all set on the NHS. Anything chronic, until it becomes acute there's not much help. Until I need a feeding tube they will not help me find liquid nutrition to supplement the little solid food I can eat for an ongoing GI issue - allergies mean the most common ones don't work for me. They won't refer me to the NHS physiotherapists actually versed in the condition, I have to go through the local ones that will cause more injury first. I just had to print out data from the hematology society here to tell them they are not following their own guidelines with me and that could be behind some of my current issues. I'm really unhappy with the NHS right now and wish I could afford private care!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

It rattles my brain, why can't one of the worlds top countries take care of its' citizens, thanks for your input, I wish I had good advice to go with it.

Thanks for the comment, I was aware of the long waits. I was told it would take me a year to see a dermatologist, I flew bck to states, staying with my son and had skin cancer surgery within 2 months.

The wait lists very much depend on the particular NHS Trust. Very much a post code lottery. Last year I went to my GP with a mole on my back that my wife didn’t like the look of so I went to the GP who said it was suspicious plus 2 other lesions close by and he referred me to a dermatologist at the skin cancer centre at our local hospital, and I saw him 2 weeks later.  He said he didn’t think they were too worrisome but wanted them removed and tested which happened 2 months later, and the negative results took another month to arrive in the post.

I had an existing condition called atrial fibrillation which occurred 2 or 3 times a week and was bothersome but not bad enough to require any medication. Last July the cardiologist recommended Ablation which I readily agreed to. (AFib only gets worse with age, never reverses without intervention) I had the procedure on the 5th October, outpatient, home same day and my heart hasn’t had a single episode of AFib since then.

I do have PHI which I can trigger if the NHS waiting list is over 6 weeks as I do hear these horror stories of long waiting lists but so far so good.

This comment/question/opinion has been racking my brain, In a country with "free medical care" why does one need to purchase PHI?

If you are an EU citizen living here, you are required to have Comprehensive Sickness Insurance for you and all member of your family if you are either a student or self-sufficient. (Not employed.)

It also gives you the option of avoiding the NHS, which does not necessarily offer all treatments and medications, even if you need them. And, from what I understand, getting in to see specialists much more quickly than on the NHS. (We have never needed to use our private medical insurance.)

It rattles my brain, why can't one of the worlds top countries take care of its' citizens, thanks for your input, I wish I had good advice to go with it.

Because the NHS is based on tax revenues. A few years ago it was announced that there 10 million more people are in the UK but the government takes less in in Income Tax than they did before this rise in the population by 10 million.

 Other countries protect their national health system by doing things like: only giving visas to those who pass a medical for every visa and not allowing them full access to their health system for years; having to use private insurance for certain things that might happen as people get older and these pay more if they haven't held that insurance for years; pay a monthly fee to use their health service and those that don't work pay more. etc The UK doesn't do any of that.

Plus most EU countries require a monthly health insurance to be paid and proof that the EEA citizen worked in their country the previous week, earning at least a certain amount, or they get billed, but the EU rules on free movement doesn't suit the way the NHS is run.