| Product: |
British United Provident Association (BUPA) |
| Date: |
31/03/03 (1065 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: No NHS waiting lists, You choose your consultant, Different schemes for different pockets
Disadvantages: They can get it wrong, Hospitals are good, but nor perfect
I have been a member of BUPA for many years and, unfortunately, have had to use them a few times.
Now I know that many of you could wax lyrical about ethics. You know the stuff - The NHS should be good enough to provide for all and it is unfair that the rich get preferential treatment etc... All good stuff until your company gives it to you for free. Then 90% + of people's ethics are quickly forgotten.
Mine certainly were. Enough of the confessions, I must press on.
Price wise BUPA are certainly not the cheapest. Whilst I don't pay for mine someone in their mid 30's should expect to pay £50-£60 per month for a decent level of cover. There are several different schemes designed to suit different pockets. The basic equation is the more you pay the better the cover. There are much cheaper around though (PPP, Standard Life for 2)
I can't talk too much about the different schemes per se as mine is paid for and I am on the International Gold Scheme, but the web site is very clear as to what's available on this choice. I could type for hours just comparing the schemes - much better that you get the basic facts straight from BUPA themselves - it's fairly dry stuff.
However the cover is generally excellent. Whenever I have needed treatment (which sadly has been often) I have had who I want when I want. I have chosen to stay at the BUPA hospital Manchester which seemed very good compared to NHS places I have visited. Specialists will always see you quickly under BUPA and you don't have to worry about the costs generally. BUPA pay the specialists directly if you ask.
There are some downsides though that the slick marketing and nice website doesn't tell you :-
1. I had a very bad accident overseas a year ago and needed emergency surgery. I was in Estonia. My BUPA covers international. So I phoned them, in agony on the slab (almost) to get clearance for the surgery. Bupa told me that
I had left my company scheme and they couldn't help me. It was 8pm on a Sunday evening. To their credit my wimpering must have touched the heart of the phone operator and she agreed to the surgery subject to me still being with my company (which I was - their computer was wrong!!) Still - it was a bit worrying!!
2. The surgery went wrong. Estonia has a poor health service and they put my bones back in the wrong place. BUPA could have emergency evacuated me. They didn't - they let me take the risk. I should have been air ambulanced to Helsinki but I wasn't. Helsinki was a 20 minute helicopter ride away.
3. It took 6 months before specialists in the UK properly daignosed the poor surgery. Nobody could work out why I was in such agony. BUPA could see the specialist bills but wouldn't help find me someone to work out the problem. I guess this wasn't all their fault - they are just an insurance company. Except the International cover is supposed to include advice.
4. Anyway, 9 months later I have the corrective surgery at BUPA Manchester. It seemed to go OK. Then I wake up and, to my surprise I am taken off the Saline drip quite quickly by a juior nurse. I was quite happy - I hate having those things stuck in my arm. The Estonians kept one in for 2 days!! Then the anaesthetic (hope I spelt it right!!!) wore off and I started to feel livelier. I order 2 sandwiches, carrot soup, choccy bars, buscuits and sparkling water. Well, I was real hungry. Then a Tuna steak and chips with more fizzy water. The food was good. But boy was I sick!!!!! Aparently they should never have let me eat so much after surgery. They were negligent. Anyway they had to clean me up, so ha ha!! Then it was bed time. In came a nurse with some antibiotics. Problem was that it needed to be injected though the drip in my arm. The same drip they had taken out. Now putting these things in needs a doctor and is quite painful. It took them 2 hours to get a docto
r and it was very unpleasant having it put back in!! I was not happy!!!
5. Another annoying factor is that it can be hard to get through - their phones are busy.
6. Also they are slow paying you or your doctors.
All in all this may seem like a negative review, but I would stick with them. The cover I have is excellent in terms of what it covers. Maybe PPP or Standard Life or one of the others offers a better service - check the reviews there and make up your own mind. For me, despite the problems I have had I will stick with them. Of course, my company pays for mine, but if they didn't, I'd pay for it myself!
Summary:
|
|
