# UK Health Records



## coolbadger (Sep 17, 2008)

Prompted by helping someone else I have been chasing Health Insurance for myself. 

I have Blue Cross/Shield looking into this and I have been asked to provide my health records for the past five years.

Does anyone have any experience about obtaining these and where would you start? I thought about going to my GP.

Many thanks.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

coolbadger said:


> Prompted by helping someone else I have been chasing Health Insurance for myself.
> 
> I have Blue Cross/Shield looking into this and I have been asked to provide my health records for the past five years.
> 
> ...


Yep, your GP. They'll charge you so much a page. Anything for which you've seen a doctor on your records will most probably be excluded from your health policy. Welcome to American health care. Hopefully, it'll be changing this summer.


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## coolbadger (Sep 17, 2008)

Fatbrit said:


> Yep, your GP. They'll charge you so much a page. Anything for which you've seen a doctor on your records will most probably be excluded from your health policy. Welcome to American health care. Hopefully, it'll be changing this summer.


Thanks Fatbrit. I will see my GP next week and keep you informed!:cool2:

Would this also apply when taking a job with Healthcare Benefits? In that previous conditions are excluded? In the UK I had a job with free BUPA membership and they never asked for my medical history at any stage. 

I am blessed in that I am not concerned about my medical records but I am sure that there are people who have major issues.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

coolbadger said:


> Thanks Fatbrit. I will see my GP next week and keep you informed!:cool2:
> 
> Would this also apply when taking a job with Healthcare Benefits? In that previous conditions are excluded? In the UK I had a job with free BUPA membership and they never asked for my medical history at any stage.
> 
> I am blessed in that I am not concerned about my medical records but I am sure that there are people who have major issues.


Policies provided through employers (and sometimes through other professional associations) cannot individually exclude medical conditions. Either it's covered for the whole group......or it isn't! But there's usually a waiting period when you first join unless you've had continuous medical coverage. The NHS counts as continuous coverage. However for individual policies, the insurers can exclude whatever conditions they want.

Expect this "pick and choose" option for insurers to disappear after the forthcoming summer bill.


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## coolbadger (Sep 17, 2008)

Fatbrit said:


> Policies provided through employers (and sometimes through other professional associations) cannot individually exclude medical conditions. Either it's covered for the whole group......or it isn't! But there's usually a waiting period when you first join unless you've had continuous medical coverage. The NHS counts as continuous coverage. However for individual policies, the insurers can exclude whatever conditions they want.
> 
> Expect this "pick and choose" option for insurers to disappear after the forthcoming summer bill.


This is the UK standard policy for issuing copies of medical records. You have to apply in writing and state exactly which dates you require and the reason for wanting them.

The cost is £10 'administration' fee and 33 pence for each printed sheet up to a maximum of £50.

The £10 fee is paid up front.

They guarantee that the printing of these documents will take no longer than....... 40 days..!

I shall keep you updated on the actual timeline.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

coolbadger said:


> This is the UK standard policy for issuing copies of medical records. You have to apply in writing and state exactly which dates you require and the reason for wanting them.
> 
> The cost is £10 'administration' fee and 33 pence for each printed sheet up to a maximum of £50.
> 
> ...


Kafka would be proud of the progress Blighty has made! Still, you could save more than 50 quid if it notes your vaccinations and you need an immigration medical.


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## theresoon (Apr 11, 2008)

If you have them email instead of print they might not charged you. My US doctors didn't charge us to email me the records when we moved.


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## coolbadger (Sep 17, 2008)

theresoon said:


> If you have them email instead of print they might not charged you. My US doctors didn't charge us to email me the records when we moved.


It is different in the UK. The records are owned by the Secretary of State for Health and you have to have a really good reason to have a copy.

As such they can charge for printing off copies. 

I doubt very much if they would send these electronically for data protection reasons.


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## theresoon (Apr 11, 2008)

my reason was that we moved to Cyprus


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## tomben (Dec 31, 2008)

Fatbrit said:


> Hopefully, it'll be changing this summer.


Yes but how?

I noticed an additional tax on wine now to pay for health care improvements. 

Slippery path ....


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## coolbadger (Sep 17, 2008)

*success...*

Well I got my records after 36 hours. 

They also backdated them for 30 years. Amazing how much stuff they missed and was not recorded. 

You would have though 'West Nile Virus' deserved a mention!:confused2:


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

tomben said:


> Yes but how?
> 
> I noticed an additional tax on wine now to pay for health care improvements.
> 
> Slippery path ....


I think US health care has reached the stage where you could try almost anything and it'd be a step forward. We pay a minimum of twice as much as comparable countries while enjoying a position at the bottom of league tables. The only thing that really gets my gall abut it is the state of denial many of my US compatriots live in. Well, those with jobs still providing health insurance, anyway.


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