We hear so often these days that the NHS is dreadful, that most of us are slowly becoming convinced, if we can afford it, that we should take out private medical insurance (PMI). But should we ?
For starters, note that medical insurance doesn't cover the conditions most of us need treatment for. It doesn't cover childbirth (not even emergency Caesareans), it often doesn't cover depression and it also very often doesn't cover chronic or
incurable illnesses such as diabetes, asthma or multiple sclerosis. It is also utterly useless in an emergency: private hospitals don't even have emergency rooms.
And anyway the NHS never makes you wait more than an hour or two to have a broken leg sorted out. The doctors you see privately will be the same ones you would have seen on the NHS anyway – they're just bumping up their incomes by going private – and NHS consultants are usually the ones at the cutting edge of healthcare.And it isn't cheap either. A 30-something man or woman would be lucky to get cover for less than £30 a week. At that price it would come with so many exemptions you'd have to be nearly dead before you could claim on it. You'd need to be spending more like £70 a month to be sure of getting anything remotely comprehensive. On the plus side, having good insurance does mean that you'll get treated fast; that you'll have some choice about who treats you and where; and, of course, that the hospitals you visit will be less dirty and less depressing than they might be otherwise.Start a Calamity Account instead
There is one more alternative: simply save all the cash you might have spent on insurance and then pay for any treatment you might need that you don't want to wait to have on the NHS.
This sounds frightening, but it shouldn't be. Let's not forget that you've already paid for the NHS via your taxes and that it really isn't that bad: it is generally accepted that in emergencies and in the care of people with serious or terminal illnesses the organisation does a good job of providing comprehensive medical care. Where the NHS more often falls down is on the treatment of acute but curable conditions; but if you are saving you should be able to pay for this yourself if you feel you need to. Note that 80% of these treatments are dealt with on an outpatient basis (blood tests, consultations, X-rays, scans and the like). These aren't particularly expensive. What are pricey, on the other hand, are mainly procedures that you won't need until you are heading for your 50s and 60s (hip replacements, for example), by which time your Calamity Account should be looking pretty healthy if you have regularly put £50-£100 a month into it instead of paying for insurance. A private hip replacement comes in at about £7,000, cataract removal at about £2,000 and a coronary artery bypass graft between £2,000 and £15,000.
Only 4% of private healthcare claims are for sums over £5,000. You could even combine self-insuring with buying a very high excess policy: if you agree to pay the first £5,000 of treatment you can cut the cost of a policy to a few pounds a month. That way you can build up your savings while retaining a sense of security, should something really horrible happen.
By MoneyWeek Editor Merryn Somerset Webb
Publish at : insurance online quote
And anyway the NHS never makes you wait more than an hour or two to have a broken leg sorted out. The doctors you see privately will be the same ones you would have seen on the NHS anyway – they're just bumping up their incomes by going private – and NHS consultants are usually the ones at the cutting edge of healthcare.And it isn't cheap either. A 30-something man or woman would be lucky to get cover for less than £30 a week. At that price it would come with so many exemptions you'd have to be nearly dead before you could claim on it. You'd need to be spending more like £70 a month to be sure of getting anything remotely comprehensive. On the plus side, having good insurance does mean that you'll get treated fast; that you'll have some choice about who treats you and where; and, of course, that the hospitals you visit will be less dirty and less depressing than they might be otherwise.Start a Calamity Account instead
There is one more alternative: simply save all the cash you might have spent on insurance and then pay for any treatment you might need that you don't want to wait to have on the NHS.
This sounds frightening, but it shouldn't be. Let's not forget that you've already paid for the NHS via your taxes and that it really isn't that bad: it is generally accepted that in emergencies and in the care of people with serious or terminal illnesses the organisation does a good job of providing comprehensive medical care. Where the NHS more often falls down is on the treatment of acute but curable conditions; but if you are saving you should be able to pay for this yourself if you feel you need to. Note that 80% of these treatments are dealt with on an outpatient basis (blood tests, consultations, X-rays, scans and the like). These aren't particularly expensive. What are pricey, on the other hand, are mainly procedures that you won't need until you are heading for your 50s and 60s (hip replacements, for example), by which time your Calamity Account should be looking pretty healthy if you have regularly put £50-£100 a month into it instead of paying for insurance. A private hip replacement comes in at about £7,000, cataract removal at about £2,000 and a coronary artery bypass graft between £2,000 and £15,000.
Only 4% of private healthcare claims are for sums over £5,000. You could even combine self-insuring with buying a very high excess policy: if you agree to pay the first £5,000 of treatment you can cut the cost of a policy to a few pounds a month. That way you can build up your savings while retaining a sense of security, should something really horrible happen.
By MoneyWeek Editor Merryn Somerset Webb
Publish at : insurance online quote
Posts
