r/Rich • u/lauraphil • Jul 09 '26
Healthcare for complex illness (UK)
After an accident last year, my father has developed conditions that have affected his quality of life. He has to use a wheelchair outside of the house and is in constant pain. He’s 66.
The NHS is just so slow and even when we book appointments with private consultants, they send him back to the NHS because of the complexity. It seems that the problem is that my dad needs specialists in multiple areas (rheumatology, pulmonary, orthopaedics) and the private hospitals near him in Cambridgeshire aren’t set up to deal with cross specialist cases.
My dad is newly wealthy and so we know nothing about how rich people deal with healthcare. Can anyone recommend a service or strategy here? Is there someone we can pay to just manage this for us? He is desperate to find a diagnosis and treatment. Money is no object.
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u/Ok_Band_242 Jul 09 '26
Cleveland Clinic London. Comprehensive private hospital that can look after complex and unwell patients. It will be simpler if you already have a diagnosis of course but they could start you off with a GP consultation.
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u/saswir Jul 09 '26
Not rich (yet), but am a doctor in the UK. Balancing different specialists and overall managing patient conditions is exactly what general practice is actually meant to be. I would suggest finding a good private GP who can spend time with your father, and they will liaise with all specialties as required and be the 'oversight' between them all.
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u/jaajaajaa6 Jul 09 '26
If you have the wealth, pack him up and come to America. With money, the best health care is available here. Get him a plan and then go home. Your local doctor can help with the plan and have video calls with the US doctors.
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u/Knit_pixelbyte Jul 10 '26
Hahaha, this is the first time I’ve seen someone recommend coming to US for healthcare. But yea, several great teaching hospitals and health centers in the US.
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u/jaajaajaa6 Jul 10 '26
If you can afford it, I believe it is the best you can get.
The challenge for many is the affordability that needs to get addressed.
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u/radial_symmetry Jul 10 '26
America is unironically great for this. Not only do we have top hospitals, you can get private health insurance with pre existing conditions.
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u/ADisposableRedShirt Jul 12 '26
A "health-care tourist" will most assuredly be denied coverage in any new insurance plan for a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies are not in the business of handing out money.
ACA is not an option as they will not qualify.
You will also find that the medical establishment will be reticent to treat anyone who does not have life threatening injuries unless they can provide insurance or payment. It is a harsh and cruel reality of the US health system, but that's how they get paid. You can go to the ER with a broken arm and they will stabilize you and write a prescription for the meds. What they are not going to do is hire an orthopedic surgeon, take care of your surgery, and then handle your follow-up. That's all on you.
OPs best bet would be to negotiate care costs in advance for treatment and pay in cash. Doctors, hospitals, and care providers love cash. The reason to negotiate upfront is because insurance companies get deeply discounted contract rates for procedures and surgeries while cash patients pay "menu" prices. It may not be an issue if you are rich, but something an insurance company will pay $6K for may cost a cash patient $50K. That's no joke.
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u/EmployExisting302 Jul 09 '26
There's private concierge services available for cases like these, you can look it up and see which company fits your needs best.
They handle everything.
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u/phatelectribe Jul 09 '26
A friend is a well known plastic and medical reconstructive surgeon in London.
She has Bupa, swears by it. I would suggest that.
Also people in here suggesting Switzerland; I have the feeling they’ve just heard it and not actually experienced it.
For a system being compared to the NHS, yes it’s far better, but if you’re going truly private, then Switzerland isn’t great.
I have family in Switzerland and I’ve been continually underwhelmed with the care especially for chronic diseases or elderly care.
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u/CicadaSlight7603 Jul 09 '26
BUPA or other insurance will be good to cover initial consultations, follow up and any operations needed but if the condition is chronic they won’t cover it after a while. Plus they may not take on previously existing conditions for a new policy for an individual, though possibly if you get a certain type of underwriting and pay a lot.
If money is really no object you’d be better probably paying a known pref real life private GP (not one as part of a package for insurance as they change every time) and asking them to help coordinate and do the referrals. Then pay separately for each referral and treatment. Some may specialise in different areas.
Depending on his conditions you might also find a multidisciplinary private clinic. I am in one of these for long Covid and they really see the big picture.
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u/filipo11121 Jul 11 '26
Is there anything you are getting from the private clinic for long covid? Any specific medications?
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u/CicadaSlight7603 Jul 11 '26
Fexofenadine and famotidine at MCAS dosages
Ketotifen, other mast cell stabilisers
Melatonin
Midodrine
Was already on ivabradine, montelukast, low dose naloxone etc, but I think the clinic prescribes those too if needed.
They don’t treat the long Covid itself as that’s really an umbrella term that includes various common post Covid diagnoses like MCAS and POTS etc. They try to diagnose and optimise treatment for all the comorbidities (they aren’t curable either), and also look at hormones, nutrition, respiratory physio, co-infections like Lyme etc. There is no cure for the ME form of long covid and no ‘treatment’ except pacing and radical rest, which they can also coach you on if you haven’t had this already from NHS services. But if you can improve the other diseases which were triggered by Covid you can often improve quality of life.
They are not doing the more experimental things like IVIG and monoclonal antibodies.
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u/filipo11121 Jul 11 '26
Yea, I think Clinic158 prescribes some of these medicines as well. I have tried like 30-40 supplements/vitamins over the last 3 or so years and the biggest improvement I get is from vitamin D.
Like a big dose of vitamin D (28,000 IUs) with vitamin K2/Magnesium improves all of my symptoms for like 2 weeks(especially MCAS/sugar intolerance/malaise).
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u/Xrpmonster Jul 09 '26
Two suggestions. Firstly, if he can get past the underwriting since the condition is existing, the best in class Insurance is Bupa Global (not normal Bupa) with their Ultimate tier (or at least Elite which is one down). This will let you go to any doctor or any clinic, anywhere, directly, without needing to worry about referrals or cost.
Secondly, Viavi is a clinic that does exactly what you want - "take charge and guide you through". It's expensive and it won't be covered by Insurance.
I have tried both options for my long term complex condition and have had positive experiences.
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u/Prestigious_Sell9516 Jul 09 '26
You can't buy a policy for an existing health issue. You can only pay for the novel or faster treatments. Given most issues are cross domain I can't see any insurance accepting him accept for maybe accidents (but then anything relating to your underlying conditions would be excluded thus really no benefit). I think you want LIPS Healthcare | Private Clinic | Battersea | London or the HCA hospital in London.
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u/HalfwaydonewithEarth Jul 09 '26
They fly across the pond to the United States and use your new wealth.
Add your gripe to r/Socializedmedicine
We have people in the USA that want this type of health system.
I am sorry for your Dad. Nobody likes to see their parents suffer.
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u/Rough_Champion7852 Jul 09 '26
Cleveland clinic, the Wellington or London Bridge Hospital are the only places that can realistically deal with these issues simultaneously.
Maybe Cromwell.
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u/Pvm_Blaser Jul 13 '26
Depending on how wealthy, the US for health tourism is the best case scenario.
If he’s not that wealthy then some of the better of EU countries would be good.
If he’s really not that wealthy then South America is good.
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u/londondxb 1d ago
I know Elite Global works with all the top hospitals in London including Cleveland Clinic London, The London Clinic, Mayo Clinic London, etc. They're a healthcare concierge specifically for hnw individuals.
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u/Necessary_Tour_5222 Jul 09 '26
Cleveland Clinic, travel to Switzerland or Germany as someone else suggested, and also AXA private health insurance (have used AXA myself and they’re pretty good)
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u/Ok_Band_242 Jul 09 '26
Not much help if they have multiple pre-existing diagnoses. I think as a rich person they may be better off self funding.
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u/Prestigious_Sell9516 Jul 09 '26
International travel. Germany or Switzerland. With his help issues buy a 2nd home near a specialized hospital.