Quick thought. I had been booked for some tests and because I had reached the limit on my insurance I had to self-fund. I emailed the private hospital and asked what the costs would be. This is what I received back-

Please find below the following estimated hospital costs for your
information.

Blood pressure 24 hour test – £366
Cortisol blood test – £65
Dr XXX appointment – Initial consultation £250, follow up £150.

Please contact Dr XXXX’s private medical secretary for advice on the exercise ECG as I am not sure we do this at our hospital.

After the exercise ECG I had to pay that direct to the NHS hospital that performed it and so I was left with non-consultation fees of £366 + £65.

Imagine my surprise when the final invoice came in with the blood pressure test costing £563.58 and the blood test costing £90.33 plus an extra test for electrolytes, that I knew nothing about, for £90.56.

So, the bill went up from £431 to £744.47, an increase of 72%. I presumed this was a mistake and so I emailed the hospital.

They said, and I quote, the reason the bill is higher is because we thought you were self-funded when you previously enquired, but the final bill was raised as you being under insurance, that it why it is higher.

Wow! They charge 72% more if you are covered by insurance than if you are paying out of your own pocket. That’s so strange.

It was only then that it dawned on me that if, for example, you have a limit on your health insurance of £10,000 you are not actually getting £10,000 of treatment. You are getting around £6,000 of treatment that you would otherwise pay for. It may be coincidence, but if I wanted a £10,000 limit for certain tests I would have to pay £390 per month for that, almost £5,000 per year.

There are many other aspects of my private health journey that have been unsatisfactory, but mostly the financial side feels close to theft to me. A few years back my son had to have a scan and a biopsy taken which we had to self-fund for. They were taking 2 samples, but we were billed for 20! We queried it and they said ‘we thought you were insured, sorry’. They immediately wrioe the entire bill off for the scan and tests as a goodwill gesture. More likely, they were caught and didn’t want it going anywhere else.

The more I look at how the consultants, private hospitals and insurance works in the UK, the more I feel it is a money making machine. Needless tests, bits of extra money floating around behind closed doors and all because they can take advantage of desperate people who cannot get help from the NHS.

I can only imagine how much worse it is in the United States…

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