Lifescan Health Checks
- Thread starter TitanTim
- Start date
How about private health insurance?
Despite being pretty fit, strong & apparently healthy for my age, I have always had health-related anxiety. Having had a scary few months last year, I signed us all up for private healthcare. Pretty cheap & puts my mind at rest a little.
Despite being pretty fit, strong & apparently healthy for my age, I have always had health-related anxiety. Having had a scary few months last year, I signed us all up for private healthcare. Pretty cheap & puts my mind at rest a little.
You're absolutely spot on Richard, I have definitely noticed a reduction in fitness levels over the last few years, I was getting quite worried about it on the quiet. The docs had me down as having panic attacks 8 years ago when the AF started, and for a further 4 visits after that but obviously it was AF. The only thing I had as a kid was shingles at about 12, but the cardiologist reckons it might be down to high blood pressure and the valves as you say, even though it's always been around 120/80, it could be hereditary blood pressure but I don't know my birth parents so who knows. Anyway I shouldn't get down about it, it's fixable, going for ablations next year as the AF is pretty severe.
Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, it's good to get as much info as possible on it.
Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, it's good to get as much info as possible on it.
stuartC said:
I signed up for private health insurance when I had to take my wife to hospital in Croydon, Mayday, in 1989. That single day event was sufficient to be scared stiff if we ever had to go there "for real". The treatment of my father in law in East Surrey was appalling as well with the eternal waits for information from the cancer specialists, the delays in getting results and generally being kept in the dark and waiting for everything.
The fact that you can see a specialist next week, and not in 6 months, is very important to me. Also that you will get medication that is not available on the NHS as it is too expensive. I specifically selected a policy that has unlimited cancer care and access to everything that is available for as long as needed - not just a year that some cheaper insurance policies have.
For a small operation for my wife in Gatwick Park it was so much less of a scary place that to me it is worth it if you can afford it.
Not stating that the NHS is a bad place to be - just that you have to fit in their timescales and overcrowding which is not good.
pvr said:
Amen to all that. Your policy sounds a lot like mine - unlimited cancer, unlimited outpatients
My Mum's experience of NHS hospitals during her stays over the last 5 years is truly terrible. Lack of food & medication. Being discharged when quite obviously unable to look after herself & then being re-admitted the very next day after falling off her chair and spending the night on her living room floor. The classic being left on a trolley in a corridor for 4 hours, cold and with no blanket. Yeah, no thanks.
On the flip side, the community care she has received is second to none. There is some nurse or other there almost every week, even though she's over the worst.
A mate of mine had his hip replaced at a private place in York. They asked him if he would like white or red wine with his evening meal
The cancer care unit was in Guildford, I even wrote a letter to complain about their lack of care as it was plain obvious that the specialist only opened the folder for the first time when we were in the room (after waiting for hours and hours) for results.
So I did get a response back and a letter of apology, but a bit late after the event.
So I did get a response back and a letter of apology, but a bit late after the event.
I've been thinking on and off about health insurance. My local hospital is Stafford which we all know about. As there is no 24 hour A&E it means traipsing upto North Staffs Hospital some 15 miles away if taken ill after 8pm. My mum was in Stafford when she passed away 12 months ago and whilst they did their best in critical care it was plainly obvious they were woefully understaffed. It is very worrying and sometimes plays on my mind if I became ill myself.
Tim.
Tim.
Same with all insurance it's a gamble wether you'll need it Tim, and an answer you cannot have. I never would have bothered but luckily the wife took it out for me when she joined Westfield through her work, it's been very useful with my heart thing. PVR makes a very good point and he's correct though. End of the day you just have to weigh up the cost and take a gamble, not easy I know.
Thanks guys, didn't think of the AE part in relation to private healthcare but something for me think about for the new year. I live 2 miles or so from Stafford hospital but a little galling you would end up in a hospital some distance away but then no different for most people I guess.
Tim.
Tim.