Private medical coverage in UK

I am covered by Medicare and a private supplemental plan in the US. These plans do not cover me in the UK where I currently reside. I am covered under NHS and am wondering if anyone is aware of private providers for UK cover only. Thanks.

Are you in the UK on a visa where you paid the IHS fee?

The NHS covers a lot of healthcare needs, like prescriptions for a set fee (which can even be prepaid), hospitals, GPs etc. For private healthcare there are a lot of options, but outside employer sponsored plans, you may find them prohibitively expensive for what they cover. BUPA and AXA are common, there are others if you search though. None cover pre existing conditions that I have found so they aren't worth it to me.

I am covered by Medicare and a private supplemental plan in the US. These plans do not cover me in the UK where I currently reside. I am covered under NHS and am wondering if anyone is aware of private providers for UK cover only. Thanks.

Sorry, do you mean you need to find private insurance cover, or are you looking for private physicians/care?

We used Vitality Health for insurance. It was relatively reasonable in cost. Their booklet had lists of doctors/hospitals where care could be obtained, and it was available online. Some of the doctors and hospitals did both private and NHS care, some only private. So if it's a private provider of care you are looking for, you might check the booklets of one of the private insurance companies?

Thanks. I am looking for private insurance cover. Will try Vitality Health.

Thanks Margo. Am covered by NHS now.

There are many health insurers in the UK.  We are with Aviva but used an online broker to narrow down our choices and choose the type of policy we wanted.  They were excellent and no charge to the client. We ended up choosing Aviva for health, vision and dental and have been very pleased.

https://www.activequote.com/

Below is a list of some companies:

APRIL
Aviva Health
AXA PPP Healthcare
AXA PPP International
Benenden Health
Bupa
Bupa On Demand
Childsure
Cigna
CS Healthcare
ESMI
Exeter Family Friendly
Freedom Health
Health-on-Line
HealthFund
InterGlobal
Medical Care Direct
PHC
SecureHealth
Simplyhealth
Tesco Bank
Universal Provident
Vitality Health (Pru Health)
Westfield Health WPA
WPA

Thank you. You are a wealth of info

The main annoyance is most private coverage requires a referral from your NHS GP.

I had Cigna International when I was on a Tier 2 which is like the Rolls Royce of coverage.  I’ve had both Bupa and Axa since and both have served me well when needed (queue jumping).

The main annoyance is most private coverage requires a referral from your NHS GP.

I had Cigna International when I was on a Tier 2 which is like the Rolls Royce of coverage.  I’ve had both Bupa and Axa since and both have served me well when needed (queue jumping).

Our cover with Aviva includes 5 video GP appointments per year for each of us. I just did one on Saturday morning and the GP referred me to a specialist, who I go to see on Wednesday. Very slick.

Thanks. I am looking for private insurance cover. Will try Vitality Health.

There is something good with Vitality - if you are near London, there are GPs they contract with so you don't have to go to a NHS GP. They also do telehealth.  They don't, as far as I know, have GPs away from London yet. For what that's worth.

Telehealth is worth it's weight in gold, by the way.     Good luck!

Telehealth is worth it's weight in gold, by the way.     Good luck!

+1 on this.

I booked one last Friday for Saturday morning, and I had plenty of time to complete a description of my knee problem plus upload photos of it for the GP to review before the call.  The GP then sent me an open referral letter to an orthopedic specialist with his initial diagnosis of osteoarthritis. I was surprised to get an immediate referral but when I looked up osteoarthritis of the knee on the NHS website it states that it is normal for a GP to make that diagnosis without first having X-Rays or scans done.  The consultant will order scans and tests as they see fit.

This thread actually convinced me to talk to my husband about private coverage. They don't cover pre existing, but typically will cover to get back to "baseline" so the new injuries the NHS is fobbing off that should be treated would be covered. I don't want my quality of life to keep dropping, so hopefully it can help slow that down.

This thread actually convinced me to talk to my husband about private coverage. They don't cover pre existing, but typically will cover to get back to "baseline" so the new injuries the NHS is fobbing off that should be treated would be covered. I don't want my quality of life to keep dropping, so hopefully it can help slow that down.

Prepare for sticker shock.

Prepare for sticker shock.

It will just be through his employer, but better than nothing! We hadn't because it didn't seem worth it, but now that it's clear the only way I will get help is to go private and have them transfer me to their NHS service after it is a good idea. I'm going to have some serious complaints once I see a competent doctor.

I'd say go for it then!