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MONEY COMMENT
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If you've got Private Medical Insurance (PMI) -- perhaps written as an incidental benefit into your contract of employment -- then you're not alone. But what does it actually mean? Have you ever wondered whether it is really a valuable benefit as part of your employment package? Is it, in fact, a necessary form of insurance, or is it one of those perks that sounds great but doesn't actually work in real life? PMI essentially means that, if you happen to be rushed into hospital for any reason, you'll get a private room with a telly, a telephone by your bed and a fair bit of personal attention from the nurses during the night. (Well, if you have to be ill in hospital then, presumably, it would be nice to be ill in comfort). As it happens, an 80-year-old relative has been handing over about £5,000 a year for PMI over the past few years and, having had the full benefit of her contributions recently, she's beginning to wonder exactly what she's got for her annual payout. She's been in (a private) hospital on at least 4 occasions in the last year -- she's had her private room, her telly and her bedside phone -- and she's now wondering whether the extra little luxuries are truly worth paying for. Remember that the NHS usually comes up trumps whenever there's a real emergency. Remember also that your 'private' doctor is usually an NHS doctor who's simply earning extra money by working privately. You get exactly the same treatment -- it's just more expensive because you get a nicer room to stay in and your insurance company is usually paying for it... My relative also says that the food is abysmal. The last time she had a spell in her privately-paid-for hospital, she chose a simple fish dish of cod for supper -- only to find that it was presented to her with a liberal covering of Bisto gravy! Hmmm... The NHS is there for you when you need it. And it's free. Seriously! It's true that, when you need to get into the system, you sometimes have to shout loud and hard to get a bit of attention, an appointment or some treatment. But if you do shout loud enough, you will get what you want and need. I can assure you that I know this from personal experience. About ten years ago, I had a pretty serious back problem and it took about four years of me being 'understanding' and 'putting up with' the inefficiencies of the NHS before I finally started shouting. When I did, I got the necessary treatment -- from the NHS -- and it worked. And it was free. Insurance is worth buying when there is no other option. By all means, cover yourself for unexpected eventualities such as death, unemployment and your house burning down. But why pay substantial sums for PMI when you've already paid for any treatment you might need from the NHS via your National Insurance contributions?