Real Life Example: Pamela and Gerry
To learn about other Real Life Examples of how HealthFund can save money for Individuals and Families follow the links below
Katherine's Story - Katherine, John and their 2 Children
Jane's Story - Jane, Paul and their 3 Children
The Headlines
Pamela saved nearly £3,500 every year on her family insurance premiums without compromising on healthcare benefits
Pamela's Story
Pamela's family has been covered under a BUPA scheme for many years. This was originally a benefit of her husband, Gerry’s employment. After some poor experiences with the NHS when their children were very young they decided to take out private medical insurance in 1994, when a voluntary scheme was first offered to staff. They were particularly attracted to the 25% discount BUPA were offering to employees and opted for Scale B cover, which gave pretty comprehensive cover although it excluded some hospitals.
Over the past 14 years the insurance premiums have spiralled. Although they have seriously considered cancelling the policy when the premium hikes were particularly large they decided not to. Having a family they did not want to live without the peace of mind they had enjoyed for years.
They have only made one claim of any substance under the policy and their experience was not positive. The treatment, wisdom teeth removal for their son Alex, straddled a policy year so it triggered two excess payments – significant in relation to the relatively small size of the claim. Pamela argued with the insurer who eventually relented in view of the family's low claim record.
Given their low claim history they feel that the premiums represent poor value for money but they had not, until now, found any alternative means of providing the peace of mind they want.
The Numbers
BUPACARE Scheme, Scale B with a £150 excess in respect of each insured person per year.
Premiums payable monthly and include Insurance Premium Tax at 5 percent per annum.
Covered: Pamela (49), Gerry (59), Alex (20), Chris (18), Matthew (13)
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BUPA Monthly Premium
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£418.18
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Total Premium
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£5,018.16
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Premium increase over previous year was
18.9 percent
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The Savings
Pamela has chosen a £1,500 excess for their HealthFund Account and to continue to cover the whole family even though their older two boys have now left school for university. Their HealthFund premium was £1,612.17. This gives them a saving of £3,405.99 in the first year alone, over what they were previously paying to BUPA.
Pamela's Comments
The savings are staggering and will quickly pay for higher excess amounts we are prepared to put in to our fund. I am also pleased that the HealthFund cover for cancer, heart problems and the other major worries are as good, if not better, than the cover we've had with BUPA.
It is a great shame HealthFund wasn't around 14 years earlier as we'd have saved tens of thousands of pounds in wasted premiums.
