| Product: |
HSA Healthcare |
| Date: |
01/03/02 (1536 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Way of saving for necessities
Disadvantages: Insensitive at times
For many years, since the children were small, we have belonged to the HSA Healthcare plan. Hubby works for the civil service, so our subscriptions are deducted from his wages each week (approximately £3.20 per week each) and we both have separate membership.
HSA Healthcare works differently from other healthcare insurance plans like BUPA, in that it pays out an amount for various medical, dental and optical treatments, and then it is up to you to decide whether to use the money to pay for private treatment, or to pocket the cash and be seen on the National Health!
Each membership covers yourself, your spouse (or partner) and any children under 18 who are still in full time education. It is a non-profit making organisation, and is run solely on members contributions.
WHAT IS COVERED?
Up to half the cost of dental treatment can be recovered, depending on the level of contributions paid. The same goes for opticians costs. You pay for the full treatment, get a dated receipt, fill in the forms and ausually a cheque is sent out within a few days. (I will come to the *usually* bit later!) As we are both members, we can both claim half the cost, and in that way the full cost is covered, up to a certain maximum.
When the children were covered, we used the facility fairly often, as all four of us wear specs or contact lenses, and all four of us have teeth! In a way, it was a way of saving for necessary treatment.
You are also covered if you have to go into hospital or Nursing Home for any reason. This is calculated at a set amount per night's stay (currently £12 per night at the rate we pay) and it makes no difference if you are in a private hospital or NHS, or if you have other private Healthcare insurance. You can still make a claim from the HSA. The amount is doubled if you are both in hospital at the same time due to an accident. If the stay is longer than 10 days, you can also claim for a separate one-off paymen
t of around £70.
Half the cost of physiotherapy is covered, as is convalescence, and a consultation with an expert. If you have a baby, you can make a claim for each live birth.
As you can see, for the cost, it is well worthwhile to belong to the HSA, especially if you have dependent children. The hospital stay claims are reduced for children, but you will still get a substantial payment if they are hospitalised for any length of time.
QUALIFYING PERIODS
Before you can make any claim, you must have been a contributary member for a minimum of six months, and this is extended to ten months for Maternity payment. After that, you can make any amount of claims up to a yearly maximum for each category. The next year, you can begin all over again, and so it continues.
We have always been more than satisfied with the speed and efficiency with which our claims were dealt, and have received our cheques, usually within a week or so of submitting a claim.
THINGS CAN GO WRONG
Last February, my mother in law was admitted to hospital, and we knew it was unlikely that she would come out again. Claims are dealt with at the end of treatment, and so it was not until she died, mid-June, that my father in law, who had paid into the HSA for many years, submitted a claim form.
At the beginning of July, he received a letter saying that they were sorry to hear of his loss etc., and that a cheque for over £1000 was in the post, having been sent under separate cover.
By mid-July, he still hadn't received it, so rang up the claims office. They apologised, and said that the hospital had made an error on the claim form, but it had been sorted, and the cheque was in the post.
End of July came. No cheque. He made another phone call. This time, it was the fault of the computers, but rest assured, his cheque was now being sent.
We went on holiday at this stage, and when we returned, Father in law s
till hadn't received his cheque! A further phone call had seen him talking to a rather abrupt young man, who took his number and told him someone would ring him back. Of course, they never did. And still no cheque.
Bear in mind, this man had just lost his wife of 53 years, is partially deaf, so talking on the phone is an ordeal anyway, and had been told almost 2 months earlier that a cheque was in the post! He had just spent the best part of 4 months travelling to and from the hospital every day, paying £1 an hour parking, and had paid his subscriptions to the HSA religiously, making very few claims over the years.
This is where I saw red! I wrote a strong e-mail to the person whose name he had been given for customer care, and sent a copy of the letter to the Managing director. I pulled no punches, and believe me, when I get mad, I can be very verbose on paper! I told them exactly what I thought of their ineptness, and lack of feeling at this time, and gave them a date by which I expected to see a cheque arriving, or I would be informing the Insurance Ombudsman. I also demanded, at the very least, a letter of explanation and apology. When he saw the letter, my Father In Law was somewhat taken aback at the forcefullness, but by this time I'd sent it anyway, while I was still angry!
Surprise surprise, less than a week later I received an E-mail, apologising profusely for any upset caused etc, etc, and promising a letter of apology would be sent to Father in Law, along with the cheque! 2 days later it arrived, together with an extra £50 to cover costs of phoning, and for upset caused.
In the end, it turned out alright, but still nagging at the back of my mind is the thought that if this had been a claim for the usual £40 - £50 for treatment, would the delay have happened? Was it because it was for such a large amount? Were they checking that it was a legitimate claim, even though it was filled in and signed by the hospital?
If I hadn't written that letter, would he still be waiting for his money? Money, which after all, he had paid into the association for so many years? I suppose we will never know, but until I sent that mail, they seemed quite content to push him around from pillar to post, which to my cynical mind seemed like delaying tactics at the time.
AND NOW?
We still belong to the HSA. I still think it is a good way of saving for these necessary things, like fillings and spectacles, and we have had no further problems. But if it happened again, I wouldn't wait 2 months to get forceful! And, in fairness to them, they did send a very nice letter of apology, and an extra payment. But at times like the death of a loved one, you don't want all the hassle of having to make repeated calls in order to recoup what, after all, is rightly yours.
Sometimes it pays to get nasty, but why should we have to?
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