Health Insurance for PCa

User

Posted 12 Apr 2025 at 06:34

Is there someone out there knowledgeable in health insurance matters?

I have been a member of a company private insurance policy for over 20 years. And until July 2024 I had never made a claim.

In August 2024 at the age of 58 I was diagnosed with advanced PC and given a 5 years average life expectancy. I would now like to leave my company and enjoy a few years of my short(ened) retirement. It is not essential but my preference would be to explore keeping private health insurance cover.

My concern is that once I leave my existing company then my company health cover ceases. So I’d have to find a new policy. But more than likely I’d be uninsurable for pre-existing conditions… except at an eye watering expensive premium?

Is that correct? For some reason I thought there was an obligation on insurers to offer insurance cover to “leavers” on broadly similar terms. Am I mistaken?

Tony

User

Posted 13 Apr 2025 at 00:26

You might be able to stay with the same insurer as a private individual and retain full cover. BUPA used to do this. Certainly no other private insurer would cover you for a pre-existing condition. (Company schemes often do cover pre-existing conditions.)

Also, private health cover (except company schemes) is not usually very useful for chronic (meaning long-term) conditions, as the extra premium penalty for regular claims often makes them too expensive after a year or two.

User

Posted 13 Apr 2025 at 12:31

Tony, your company insurance may have extra benefits that an individual would not get. My wife's company changed insurance companies mid way through some RT treatment, the old company paid for the scans and the new company then funded my £30k SABR treatment. Now I have moved onto HT a couple of things have happened. They won't cover zoladex or decapeptyl type injections. They said they would only fund Abiraterone if I was eligible for it under the NHS. They have also said they will only fund it for two years.

I would be interested to know how you get on, my wife says she cannot retire while I still need treatment ☹️.

Thanks Chris

User

Posted 13 Apr 2025 at 12:32

Andy

Very useful and what you say reinforces what I have been told elsewhere.

When I come back in another life I can see what profession I should enter. Health insurance companies offering corporate cover take your premiums when you're young and healthy and unlikely to ever need cover. But if you leave your job due to sickness or retirement then the cover ceases. Just at the time when you're most likely to need it.

I’m beginning to think company health insurance should come with a health warning!! It’s not the perk it’s dressed up as.

Thanks again

Tony

User

Posted 13 Apr 2025 at 13:07

Hi Tony

I had private health policy for nearly 50 years with AXA who, following my claim for prostatectomy, put up our premium to a level we could not afford for much longer. An agent helped me to transfer to BUPA where our premium was affordable but there was a five-year moratorium on existing conditions. Following my wife's claim for a minor investigation they put up the premiums to a very high level! So two months ago we cancelled our policy. We are now 'saving' nearly £600 a month and have decided to rely on the NHS but for any initial investigation we pay directly to consultants and private hospitals. Recently I hand an ultrasound and an MRI for my leg which cost about £900, which is less than two months premiums to BUPA. My GP was quite happy to refer me for private consultation; he said I am saving the NHS money! Now if I need any treatment on my leg he said he will refer me to an NHS consultant. Of course, I have to join a queue for treatment but the results of my ultra sound and MRI will be transferred to the NHS site.

Needless to say like car insurance companies if you are high risk they don't want your business.

'Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.' Richard Feynman (1918-1988) Nobel Prize laureate

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