Self employed - do you have private health insurance?

[carlabarbie]

I was wondering if any of you have private health insurance? Since becoming self employed its something I worry about, like having to take time off due to illness/injury... I know that obviously being off for a week with the flu doesnt count but I do have ongoing investigations/treatment at hospital and I would hate to find myself in a position of being unable to work for a long time and having no income, and of course there's always that risk you could break your arm! (Didnt that happen to one of our Geeks recently?)

So if anyone does have insurance can you tell me a bit about it?

 

[gillian w]

I dont have private medical insurance as such but i do have hsa which for a monthly payment pays out for all sorts of medical and dentistry,ostopathy,optician etc for the whole family up to a certain amount.I have found this really good value and claim on it all the time.
If you are totally dependant on your wage then you need to have some sort of insurance if you cant work.If you were to take out medical insurance now they dont usually want to cover you for any existing conditions.

 

[fozzyo]

I had a letter from Bupa offering me 30% discount as a therapist, so anyone interested in looking into it may want to enquire about any discounts available.

 

[jo-from-moorspa]

Hi Carlabarbie

I think you may be after income protection insurance of loss of earnings insurance rather than health insurance.

Health Insurance allows you to go private rather than NHS.

If you search for Loss of Earning Insurance there are lots of companies doing it. This insurance gives you money if you are not working. It may also be more cost effective to insure individual debts (like the mortgage or car loan) than all of you income.

Jo

 

[carlabarbie]

Thanks everyone.

The Loss of Earnings one sounds better, I guess. I am lucky enough not to have a car loan or a mortgage, but I am guessing in 3 years I will be having a car loan again! :lol: Its just being a nail technician is my one and only job, and I am busy enough not to need to do another job too, and I really am worried about not earning if I became ill/had an accident.

Strangely, the reason I became aware of this was because one of my clients has been signed off long term, and she was telling me that she has this insurance and it has really helped her and her husband through this difficult time.

I'm not fussed about having private health care, the NHS waiting times here are very low, you hardly have to wait at all and also as already mentioned as I already have health probs I wouldnt be covered for them anyway.

Hmmm. Lots of food for thought. I shall definately do some searching.

Thanks again

 

[Zo Zo]

I would recommend you go to an independent financial adviser. They call it PHI (permanent health insurance) or IP (income protection.)
Insurers will normally insure you for 75% of your earnings less the state invalidity benefit. Although be careful with this as income does have to be proven in the event of a claim. Jo is right, you can insure less, i.e. a fixed amount.
You have a deferred period, normally 4 weeks, or 13 weeks or 26 weeks, that is the period you have to be off work before the policy starts paying out. So it is obviously a lot more expensive to have a policy with a deferred period of 4 weeks, than 26 weeks...
You can also have it increasing, ie. so that cover increases each year without the need to supply further medical evidence, or increasing in payment if that makes sense. All these add ons increase the premium, so you could get quotes with various options to compare them.
Just one more thing - insurers will not normally cover pre-existing medical conditions, for example, if you have a history of a bad back, the policy will not pay out for this condition.
Hope that helps x