Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Some Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans do for emergency care, though with a relatively small lifetime cap- $50k, iirc.

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

We were paying $956/month in the USA so it seems quite cheap to us, particularly since it covers us for our annual trips to the USA. It is horses for courses I suppose. It includes 5 video consultations per year which I did do once just to try it out, however we can always get a same day appointment with our NHS GP and have done so many times. The NHS is very post code dependent and we are fortunate to be in a town with good service.

Over a 2 year period I had an irregular heart beat, atrial fibrillation, and couldn’t fault the NHS. Regular appointments with the heart unit, lots of tests, and an outpatient procedure that has fixed me up, 2 years and counting, not a single instance.

My wife’s NHS eye consultant has been brilliant, I could go on for pages talking about him. One Sunday morning we were walking down to the Main Street for breakfast at 8:25am and he phoned her, saying that he had just got from a conference in the USA and has some new eye drops that he would like her to try out. Could she come to the hospital on Thursday afternoon, he was holding a children’s clinic and could fit her in, just turn up sometime after 2 and let reception know. 2 weeks later we were walking on the moors when he called to check up on her and when she said the drops were working great he said he would send through a repeat prescription. 2 days later while walking on the moors our GP surgery called to say they had received a new repeat prescription from Mr M the consultant and would she like them to set it up for her. We get our prescriptions delivered by mail and a few days later the first bottle arrived.

We love the NHS.

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Why would you want to be paying out huge sums in private health insurance when you can register with a local NHS doctor and get your treatment for free provided that you are a permanent resident here You only need to show that you are resident If you want to supplement your NHS cover to circumvent long waits look at something like Beneden
https://www.benenden.co.uk/

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

I agree with Streetlegal.. I have the same excellent coverage in USA and it is comforting knowing that I can get in to see a specialist within a few days if needed. From what I hear and read now, many NHS appointments are being canceled due to Covid , even appointments related to cancer, heart disease and other life threatening conditions. I'm not sure how dire the situation is , so was thinking it would be wise to try and keep USA coverage , at least till this pandemic is over.. I looked at Beneden and they also have a disclaimer stating that it might be difficult to get some appointments/treatment due to Covid.. Thanks for the information though. This site is so helpful ..

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Given the Covid situation why do you think US insurance will get you an appointment in the UK any easier than UK insurance?

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Well, I don't know really, I know that I once needed an appointment and paid at a private hospital in UK and got in within days to see a doctor. I was thinking that private doctors/hospitals would get you in if paying .. Maybe, I'm wrong ..

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

That is exactly the way it normally works, with or without insurance, going private. I was responding to your post saying you thought it was different in Covid times and why you think US insurance will make it easier. No private hospital will accept US insurance​​​​​, you simply have to pay ahead of time and claim back from your US insurance policy. I have done it both ways at our local private hospital, (a Nuffield hospital) which actually advertises common things such as knee and hip replacements with a fixed price regardless of whether you are paying up front or through insurance.

It was a very pleasant experience when my wife had her first eye surgery through the Nuffield. Multiple appointments before and after the surgery, no payment required and then a single bill at the end which Aviva paid in full with the exception of our deductible. No deluge of EOB statements for the various charges and appointments that we were accustomed to when living in the USA​​​​​​. (We lived in the USA for 29 years)

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Thanks Durham Lad for the info

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Just a comment about getting in to see specialists in a short time frame in the US.

Where I live (San Diego), I have noticed that waiting times have lengthened over the years. In the past couple of years, I have waited 6 weeks or more to see a specialist, and from doing some research lately, the wait time for getting hip/knee replacements is now a 3 to 6 month wait, after you have seen the specialist.

Too many elderly people in SoCal? ......

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

We use a plan called Cigna Global or Cigna International. It's based in our home-base of Hong Kong though we've been in the USA for a couple of years straight now.

https://www.cignaglobal.com

The glitchy thing about it is that the account doesn't match the USA-standard insurance plan and account number format, such that when we go to a doctor in the USA they can rarely bill directly to the company and we have to pay out of pocket (then submit reimbursements).

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

That sounds like a great plan DL, the jury's still out for us on healthcare in the UK; we use Cigna here and have been very happy with them over the last 7 years but it's through employer, so that would disappear either way on retirement and the cost of a similar plan in the UK is expensive.

I remember being able to buy into private healthcare piecemeal over there, going private on individual procedures as and when, and often getting the same doctor you would have had 6-18 months later, had you used NHS. Is that still the case?

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

Once I retired I continued on my ex employer’s plan gaining the group discounts but without the employer subsidy. Wow, what a difference!

Yes it is still the case that you can go private and still see the same specialist as you would on the NHS. My wife has had an interesting experience this past couple of years. She had RK eye surgery over 30 years and when the optician told her that she needed cataract surgery he recommended a particular consultant. She chose him though our insurance told her that they would not reimburse his full cost as his charges were higher than the other eye surgeons. We wanted him regardless and she went to see him at our local private hospital. He is brilliant, really nice guy, explains in details what the situation is and what the options are. One eye is more complicated than the other and my wife had the easier surgery first. We received the bill from the hospital after it was all over and he waived his excess charge, accepting what Aviva paid.

For the second eye he said that the astigmatism was so bad that she was going to need a customized toric lens which the insurance would not cover, plus he may have to do 2 procedures if the lens did not align properly. He said that he knew were prepared and able to pay any extra but he himself would not feel comfortable with the extra costs if a second surgery was needed. Therefore, if it was alright with us he would do the more complicated eye under the NHS, which would cover the customized lens because the astigmatism was not going to be correctable by spectacles if a standard lens was used. There was no extra waiting involved, and the treatment at our local NHS hospital was excellent. She rarely had to wait longer than the appointment times and he invited me to a company her to all the appointments and tests. She is doing great and now on a 6 month review with him.

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

2 years ago my wife told me that she really didn’t like the look of a mole on my back, near a shoulder blade, and that I really should get it looked at. I decided that if there was a reluctance or delay getting it seen under the NHS that I would go private. (I checked with our local private hospital and they do have a skin cancer specialist on staff, who also works for the NHS). However, when my GP looked at it he agreed that it looked suspicious and said there were 2 other lesions that he didn’t like the look of. He printed off a form with a phone number and access code and told me to make an appointment immediately with the skin cancer unit at our local hospital. I called that day, appointment was the following week and the skin cancer guy told me that they were probably okay, but wanted them removing and testing. 6 weeks later I had them removed under local anesthetic at our local walk-in medical day centre. Talking with the plastic surgeon who did the op she said she normally worked in a private hospital about 40 miles away but traveled up to our area once or twice every couple of weeks to do these ops under the NHS)

So, absolutely no complaints there. (Tests came back negative as predicted).

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

A consultant I knew said the NHS was his bread and butter, his private patients were the jam. I think most consultants work for the NHS and also have private patients.

Years age my husband had a 9.00am hospital appointment. When we arrived there was already dozens and dozens of patients, all had 9.00am appointments in the same department. After a while my husband went to reception and asked if he could be seen privately. A doctor appeared almost immediately!

Re: Keep USA Health Insurance?
 

That sounds right. The folks we knew back in the USA always had difficulty understanding that the UK has a thriving private healthcare system working alongside the NHS. Even in the 70s and 80s I had private insurance through the company I worked for, this is not a new development.