Swine Flu Covered by PMI?

The government confessed yesterday that by October they expect to have 100,000 new cases of swine flu every day. What does this mean for people with private medical insurance? If they contract the virus will they be covered by their policy?

Most swine flu sufferers will not need any hospital treatment at all. A visit to the GP for a diagnosis and some anti-viral medication will be all they need apart from the usual over the counter medicines to deal with flu symptoms. In an emergency situation more serious cases may need to be admitted to hospital. Unfortunately emergency treatment of any kind is not covered by health insurance.

The NHS Choices direct website says that so far there have been 7,447 confirmed swine flu cases in the UK. 100 have involved hospitalisation, and four people have died as a result of complications.

Health insurance is only designed to cover pre-planned, booked appointments. A representative from Bupa said:

'We don’t cover emergencies. Treatment would be down to the NHS.'

The Bupa medical advice pages cover a lot of information about swine flu, how to spot it and how to avoid its spread. They direct you to a video showing the correct way to wash your hands to spread infection.

So treatment for the usual swine flu symptoms will not be covered by private health insurance however, in theory any secondary complications of swine flu which are not emergencies should be covered as long as they fall within the other stipulations of your policy. The little girl, Sameerah Ahmad, who died from swine flu last Friday for example, would not have been covered by health insurance as she had a pre-existing condition known as microvillus inclusion disease which meant she could not fight off infection.

There is not a lot of information out there about swine flu from the health cover companies at the moment. As the pandemic unfolds it remains to be seen how developments will affect those with private medical health insurance. This sector will not be as under pressure as the NHS but will no doubt experience its knock-on effects.

The latest information about swine flu is available from the following sources:

NHS latest information:
BBC News