Here's the list of companies that offer supplemental health insurance in Britian

[cap]

http://www.lloyds-insurance.co.uk/companies/insurance-companies.html

Nobility and anyone who works for a major company in Britain has private supplemental health insurance in addition to NHS.

Lords and Ladies do not wait in lines for health care. With private insurance, they go to the head of the line.

If you pay for it, you can get preferential treatment, just like here in the US.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Canada has insurance to help you get a private hosptial room, for example. nt

[YOY]

2. Lloyds created the industry.

They'd insure pox on a pig if they could.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. You don't have to work for a major company to get it.

I worked for a relatively small company in the UK (approx. 40 - 50 employees) and we were offered it at an affordable rate. I never chose to take advantage of it because as far as I was concerned the NHS was completely adequate for my needs. Dental, on the other hand, I would take. Getting good dental care through the NHS isn't particularly easy except for emergency dental.

[KatyMan]

4. I'm not sure I understand your point...

Do you see this as a problem? Or as a good example of how health care reform won't change things for people who don't want to change insurance? :shrug:

The list leaves out BUPA though.

[cap]

5. No... just that the countries who have socialized medicine also have supplemental private insurance

and private doctors who demand to be paid in excess of what the national health care system reimburses. That additional fee is covered by supplemental insurance.

France, Germany and Japan also have supplemental insurances.

No one is talking about a 100% socialized system because such a system only existed under Communism. No one is talking about that at all.

[FLDCVADem]

6. I don't believe it works that way in Canada

My understanding is that no insurance can be offered that covers what is in the basic plan, and that doctors aren't permitted to perform services outside of the basic plan that are covered under the basic plan.

[cap]

8. you can buy Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance in Canada

as a supplement.

http://www.bluecross.ca/

Here's the link

[FLDCVADem]

10. Yes

But then it doesn't do what you said in the OP, which is faster access with supplemental insurance.

[cap]

11. link please?

show me a study that proves your point.

Faster access is one of their selling points implicitly. Otherwise, why carry BCBS.

[FLDCVADem]

14. Why carry BCBS?

To get things not covered by the basic health plan.

And no, I'm not going to find and provide a link to disprove your point. How about you provide a link to actually prove your point?

[FLDCVADem]

15. From your link

"Individual health products offered by the various Blue Cross Member Plans are uniquely designed to provide services that supplement each province’s government health plan. They offer an excellent range of supplementary health and dental benefits, including drug, vision and hospital."

Supplement, not speed up.

[cap]

21. Yes.... but if you can supplement

you have the ability to pay for things that others can't ... Therefore, you go to the head of the queue.

Trust me, the Prime Minister of Canada doesn't wait for his surgery. Think about it. The elites of these societies make sure that they have a way to get theirs as well. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any waits for health care under the nationalized systems!

[FLDCVADem]

22. I think you should learn

more about the Canadian system before you start misrepresenting what it does.

[cap]

26. Sure... please give me a good link...and I will be more than happy to change my mind

I am very interested in what the ins and outs are of an implementation of the public model. They do have their complaints about their system even with a private option added to it. As we change our system, it would be good to learn from others.

[TrogL]

29. I'm from Canada, I've got supplemental insurance

...which pays for...

glasses (to a limit)

dental (percentage)

ortho (to a limit)

drugs (percentage assuming they're on a list)

ambulance

...and some other stuff.

But I sit in line at the emergency room like everybody else, with priority given to worst cases.

I can't get a doctor's appt any faster than anybody else but if it's urgent I can get seen at a walk-in clinic, usually by the same doctor.

If I want to jump the queue for an MRI, I have to go to the States.

[Zywiec]

34. Why would coming to the US for an MRI be faster than in Canada

since our health-care system is bottom of the barrel?

:shrug:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. I just want to clarify one thing for those who might not know:

Choosing to purchase supplemental insurance in most if not all of these countries DOES NOT MEAN that you are free of your obligation to support the public system. It is truly supplemental. At least in England, if you want supplemental insurance you're still required to help pay for the NHS.

[cap]

9. Yup... and that's why it is supplemental...

We could do likewise with our system but just add the option for people to keep what they got...

Option 1: We keep the current insurance choices.
Option 2: We add a public option with the ability to buy supplemental insurance from any of the major carriers.

This increased competition from Option 2 would keep Option 1 prices from increasing so much.

[KatyMan]

12. That's what I was thinking you meant

So thanks. Guess it was too early in the morning for my reading comprehension to kick in.

[cap]

25. Just the point that the major Western countries don't have 100% socialized medicine

Their systems are "socialized medicine" only to a point.

Their systems are nothing to be afraid of. I lived in France and Japan under these "regimes" and was quite content. I got treated for free in the UK as a tourist!

Just some interesting facts to bring to the teabagger we encounter.

[Horse with no Name]

13. That is all well and good too

But even the poor can at least have a place in the line--albeit not at the front--but in the US, they can't even stand at the back of the line.
It's not like the people in front are going to use up the healthcare.
There really isn't a comparison.

[Cleita]

16. This is one of the problems with a two-tiered system. This is why in

an ideal system everyone get's the same basic health care. It keeps the quality high for everyone because the upper classes complain if they aren't getting the best. You still can have a "bells and whistles" policy for additional perks like private nurses or fancy suites in the hospital, but basically you will get the same care from your doctor, clinic and hospital everyone else gets. This is one of the arguments for a Medicare program like Canada has.

[slipslidingaway]

18. knr :) n/t

[GodlyDemocrat]

17. Why the hell do people unrec posts that merely post interesting factual information?

I learned something from this post. Thank you, OP.

[Cleita]

19. Insurance company trolls. They don't want the information on the front

page for everyone to see. I know they are from the insurance companies because the unrecs are more prolific on health care posts that have factual information on them that makes them look like the greedy pigs that they are.

[cap]

24. Please help by rec'ing this post...

thanks in advance for your support

[Cleita]

27. I already have but I only get one recommend per post. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. .

:kick:

[laughingliberal]

20. Medicare recipients are able to buy supplemental insurance

Medicare cover 80% of most medical bills. The supplemental policies cover the other 20% for them. Before part D supplemental policies also covered prescription drugs. Not sure but thing that now they might cover the donut hole. Also vision and dental as Medicare does not cover these. I see no problem with a basic plan for everyone and the ability to buy supplementals. I agree the insurance companies do not want you to know about this.

[Cleita]

32. My supplemental costs $256 a month for the 20% and less than half of

my medication. I refused to get Medicare Part D until they fix it. Also, I may not get it anyway because I resent paying to have to pay a fine for each year I didn't enroll.I would rather give that to Medicare and get full coverage and prescription coverage. If all that money that seniors have to pay for supplements went into Medicare I think it would be a better deal all around and they probably could do it for half of what we pay now.

[cap]

23. Just to make my personal position clear

I am 500% in favor of a public option. My husband is a diabetic. We pay $1700/month to BCBS. We would be one of the first people using a decent public option.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. FWIW, that's not a list of who provides health insurance in the UK

It's a list of the largest general insurance companies, some of whom have health insurance products. As someone pointed out above, the market leader, BUPA, isn't listed there (they are mainly health, so it hasn't listed them).

Here's a slightly better list, though I think there are probably a few more smaller ones: http://www.comparethemarket.com/health-insurance/health-insurance-companies/

[Prophet 451]

30. Um, these aren't health insurance companies

Sorry but they're not. "Life insurance" here (confusingly, sometimes referred to as "permanent health insurance") doesn't mean medical, it means your loved ones get a lumpsum when you pass on (sometimes stipulated to pay off the mortgage or similar). Only a few of these actually deal in health insurance. AXA does, so do Norwich Union/Aviva and Prudential but the rest don't do health insurance (although Legal & General did until quite recently).

Essentially, private health insurance here is dominated by four big players: BUPA, AXA/PPP, Norwich Union/Aviva and PruHealth (a subsidiary of Prudential). It's not so much "go to the head of the line", as those companies run their own entirely seperate system and hospitals. Their hospitals tend to be more luxurious and they use brand name drugs (the NHS tends toward spartan and generics to keep costs down).

Finally, private insurance is NOT so widespread that "anyone who works for a major company" has it. Some companies do offer it as a perk but it's usually for their high-value employees and very, very few companies will offer it to their entire employment roster. The only person I know who has private insurance is my father, who gets it as a perk from his employer.

EDIT: I forgot Standard Life.

[jannyk]

31. When I lived/worked in London, the Union offered BUPA

to all members - it was dirt cheap (compared with the US) 'private insurance'. I was working for the London Evening Standard in the classified dept (ad sales). It's fairly common to be offered BUPA or similar 'top up' insurance and you neither have to be in any way wealthy or employed by the 'fat cats'. I was just your ordinary little London 'Dolly Bird' and let mine lapse after a few months as I never used it.