Dentists Who Invest Podcast

Should Dentists Have Private Medical Insurance Or No? with Warren Robins [CPD Available]

• Dr. James Martin • Season 4 • Episode 430

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Your hands, your back, your focus—your livelihood depends on them. When a sudden injury or diagnosis collides with long NHS waits, the real cost isn’t only medical fees; it’s months of lost earnings and momentum. We sit down with insurance expert Warren to break down how private medical insurance helps dentists move from symptom to specialist to treatment in weeks, not seasons, and why that speed can protect both your health and your career.

We start with the essentials: what private medical insurance covers and how it differs from relying solely on the NHS. From consultant appointments and diagnostics to hospital stays and surgery, we explain what “core cover” buys you and where optional add‑ons like unlimited outpatient diagnostics, therapies, and mental health support can transform the experience. We also dig into the postcode lottery for advanced cancer drugs, showing how access through private pathways can be decisive when time and options matter most.

Money questions take centre stage. We compare self-funding with real numbers—£3,000 scans and five‑figure surgeries—against the predictability of premiums. You’ll learn why pairing PMI with income protection can be a powerful combo: one safeguards cash flow, the other shortens your recovery timeline. We cover tax treatment for personal and company‑paid policies, and share practical cost controls, including setting a sensible excess that cuts premiums and choosing physiotherapy networks that don’t push up renewals. For dentists facing musculoskeletal strain, stress, or the risk of burnout, these details add up to better outcomes and fewer unpleasant surprises.

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Disclaimer: All content on this channel is for education purposes only and does not constitute an investment recommendation or individual financial advice. For that, you should speak to a regulated, independent professional. The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest. The views expressed on this channel may no longer be current. The information provided is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and all tax rules may change in the future. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment, you should speak to a regulated, independent professional. Investment figures quoted refer to simulated past performance and that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results/performance.

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Dr James:

Private medical insurance is something that is floated around as an idea by dentists. And certainly there can be some benefits to it. I mean, we know that the NHS and its win list aren't always favorable in terms of being able to return it to work in an expedient fashion. Therefore, that's where something like this can make sense, especially whenever our job depends on our ability to work as most dents do. I'm going today to find insurance expert for relevant. We're going to talk about travel, private medical insurance, when it makes sense, and when it doesn't, looking forward to this one. As ever, you can claim your CPD for this episode within the official tenants to invest Smart Money Members Club. Smart Money Members Club also includes multiple mini courses and webinar series on finance for dentists, including how to become as tax-ficient as possible, as well as understanding investing. All of this content comments as verifiable CPD, and you can download your certificates there and then on the patient of each lesson. In addition to this, we also include a whopping 10% discount on your dental identity and a 5% discount on lab bills for dental principles, amongst other parts and discounts for members. Please use the link in the description to claim your verifiable CPD for this episode. Now then, private medical insurance warrant. What we want to do today is we want to be fair and balanced, right? We want to be able to say, right, okay, cool. Maybe this is a situation where someone might think about it. Maybe this is a situation where actually maybe it doesn't really make so much sense. Or you might say to me, everybody should have it. I don't know. I literally don't know uh what you're gonna say right now. But here's the thing what we want to do at all times is we want to be fair, representative, and answer the question so that at least people have clarity and dentists understand when this makes sense and maybe when it's not so much for them. Does that sound fair?

Warren:

Yeah, 100%. 100%.

Dr James:

Let's do that. So maybe a good place to start is to state the obvious and say what private medical insurance is.

Warren:

Yeah, well, private medical insurance basically covers the cost of private medicate medical treatment for for new acute conditions, i.e., conditions that can be cured. And it's an alternative to the NHS and it typically allows quicker access to health circle healthcare services. Um so yeah, in a nutshell, that's what it is.

Dr James:

Okay, makes sense. And it's good, it's even though that might be obvious, you know, I might not have been the most au fay uh with what it was until we got to know each other, uh, basically, because like I was saying, we it's just good to clear up the ambiguity. Okay, cool. And how common is this that dentists have this? Because we do, of course, in this country have the NHS, which is supposed to fix us whenever we're poorly.

Warren:

Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think if you'd have asked me that question even as recently as, say, two years ago, I would have said it was the sort of insurance that the odd dentist would be inquiring about. Um I think the situation now is is very different. I think if you look at the waiting lists, um waiting lists for the NHS peaked at 7.7 million about two years ago, they've only come down to 7.4 million over that two-year period. So that you know they are reducing but very, very slowly. And I think people are more and more aware that if you just rely on it on the NHS, then depending on where you are in in in the country, you could be waiting a long time to get collective treatment. Um, so I think for that reason I'm getting more and more inquiries, particularly last year I would say more than double or even treble the inquiries from dentists talking about NH um about private medical insurance. So I think it's something that used to be viewed as a luxury, but I think the situation with the NHS now, I think more and more people are viewing it as something that it's less of a luxury because you know, you can argue that effectively you are paying for something that you already get through the NHS, but yes, you may get the treatment, but it's when you get the treatment, it's how good the treatment is. Do you get access to the same drugs, etc.? So I think dentists they they have disposable income. Um and they also have a good you know, that income can be protected. So I think one of the things I I my personal belief is that income protection and private medical insurance work really, really well alongside each other. Um if you have income protection, which we've talked about on a few occasions, if something happens to you and you end up not being able to work for a long period of time, you have that financial safety net. So that's fantastic, it guarantees some form of um lifestyle if you can't work again. Um but what it doesn't do is provide you full income as a dentist. So if something happens and you're off work and you can no longer work again, you've got two choices. You can either potentially wait in the NHS system, and when you consider that something like a quarter of people might wait more than a year to to get through to actually get some treatment, um, that's option one. Or if you have private medical insurance, you can pretty much guarantee that you'll see a consultant within a week and probably another week after that, you there's a good chance you'll be getting the treatment that you need. So yes, in a way, if you've got time to burn, then the NHS will do the job eventually, hopefully. Um but if you haven't and you want to get back to work earning your full income as a dentist, ASAP, that's where private medical insurance kicks in. So um but but it's also not just about James the um the speed of treatment. Um you've probably heard the expression postcode lottery when it comes to the NHS.

Dr James:

Yes, I have.

Warren:

Yeah, so essentially that's saying that depending where in the in the country you live, you'll find access to different drugs is dependent on exactly that, which postcode you live in. Whereas um and and cancer is probably one of the biggest areas where this is a bit of a lottery. So if you're in the right place, you can get access to the you know the best cancer drugs. Um if you're in the the wrong place in the UK, you may not get access to a drug that can literally save your life. Whereas if you go through private medical insurance, most of the insurers now they will give you access to the very best anti-cancer drugs, um including some of the um you know the latest generation of experimental drugs. Um and rather than just being a case of it might speed up the process of giving treatment, it's more about a case of it actually maybe a difference between life and death. Um, so it can be literally that serious.

Dr James:

Well, I guess that kind of answers the next question that was about to come out of my mouth was what do you say to the people out there? Inevitably, there will be people out there who think this uh, you know, who won when when when query, when these sorts of questions pop up, there'll be people out there who just say, Well, you know what, I'll just cross that bridge when we come to it, I'll just reach in my back pocket. Uh, should I ever have problems like that?

Warren:

I think that that is an option if you have your savings and uh you're happy to burn through a significant amount of savings, then that could be an option. But I don't think most people realize how much um the expenses can actually be for private money pool. Um, even in the diagnostic stage, if you're looking at say an MRI or a PET scan or a CT scan, um, they can be up to about £3,000, you know, particularly the PET scans. So, and that's before you actually start getting treatment. And if you then need an operation um and you don't want to wait and you're gonna go for an operation, then you're looking at you know most likely tens of thousands of pounds. So, um, and if it's an ongoing course of cancer treatment, then those choices can be incredibly expensive. So yes, you might have the money in your bank, which you've worked extremely hard to save up, but do you want to then go and blow a large portion of that to get medical treatment? Or would you rather do exactly what insurance is designed to do, put a smaller amount away every month so that if the worst thing happens, you're not exposed to that massive cost?

Dr James:

Well, yeah, I I see, I see, I see. Okay, so that's the kind of counter-argument to that one. And I know there'll be a lot of people out there who are wondering as well is this tax deductible?

Warren:

Um, no. I mean, generally speaking, um the majority of clients will be taking a personal policy. Um, it's often just just them as the as the individual person taking the policy out, um, in which case it's gonna be a personal policy, it's not tax deduct tax deductible. If you have a limited company and you have two or more people, you could potentially take a policy that's paid through the business, but it's then a PLMD benefit. So you're gonna get taxed on it as if it's um, you know, you're getting paid the income. So there's no way it's it's non-aliable benefit. Um, so there's no tax benefits with that, unlike some of the other insurances that we've talked about.

Dr James:

Okay, fair enough. And you and just to be just to be categorical on that one as well, because it may, it may not be tax deductible, but sometimes you can still put them through your limited company. Is that the you can't do that either?

Warren:

Well, you can pay it through a limited company, but HMRC is going to view that as a P11B benefit, in which it can be possible. So yeah.

Dr James:

Okay, fine. So it can yeah, okay, fair enough. So it might as well, you can ask your accountant on that one. But when it when it becomes a benefit of a kind in bent in kind, it's a lot more of a numbers crunching thing, isn't it? You just have to figure it out on a case-by-case basis. Okay, cool. All right, so we've kind of covered a little bit about the uh uh well about how how it works, and we've kind of covered a little bit about the maybe the situation where one would have it and it might benefit. And how can I say this we've sort of dealt with uh the classic question is people will just say, well, you know what, I'll just cross this bridge when we come to it. Can you think of any examples of specifically when dentists have had this cover that it has expedited the return to work in your experience? UK dentists, Dentists who invest now has an official platform where you can learn about finance and obtain UK compliant, verifiable DVD at the same time. The only platform that exists on which you can do both. The Smart Money Members Club has hundreds of hours of mini courses, webinar series, and live day recordings on all things finance slash tax efficiency for UK dentists. This includes complete courses on how tax works for UK dentists, finance so that you can invest and grow your own money, business so you can improve your profitability as an associate or principal, and for those out there that want it, there's also a mini course and how you can responsibly enter the crypto space using measured amounts of capital. I've gathered this content from the best of the best I could find in each respective area so that you know that this is how people at the forefront of each field advise their clients. The Smart Money Members Club also contains discounts on common things that UK dentists need to pay for on a regular basis. This includes a whopping 10% discount on dental indemnity, the offer to beat your income protection deal no matter what you're paying, and for the principals out there, 5% discount on lab bills and 10% discount on practice insurance. These are designed to offer hundreds, if not thousands, in annual savings. The purpose of this members club is to not only boost your monthly income but also manage your outgoings as much as possible and therefore create more profit to celebrate the launch of the Smart Money Members Club. And given that the CPD deadline is coming up soon, I've decided to offer the first month of this platform entirely for free. This offer will end in the coming weeks as soon as the current CPD cycle is up. To collect your CPD for this podcast episode using the Smart Money Members Club, feel free to use the link in the description of this podcast.

Warren:

Thankfully, I I haven't had any dentists where recently where they've actually had to claim on it. So um, but other than for things like um physiotherapy and things like that, so nothing major. But um, you know, if you go with certain private medical insurers, you've got access to full physiotherapy, and it doesn't actually come off your benefit effectively. So there's um Vitality is a good example. You've effectively if you use their network of physio physiotherapists, then you can essentially have almost unlimited physiotherapy without it actually impacting your future premiums as well. So um so depending on what you're likely to do. So if you're a sports mad dentist and and you're sort of you know doing things where you're likely to injure yourself, then you know choosing your private medical insurer carefully would be a sensible thing to do. So um so it it it's a bit like with Inco Protection, sort of it's horses for courses, so each of them has their strong points and their weak points. So it's very much about sort of you know assessing the needs of any individual person that's going to take the cover and then finding the insurer that matches best to their needs. Um and it and like like Inco Protection, particularly, it's quite complex. There's a lot of options to go through to set up the policy. Um and all of those, as it as with Inco Protection, can have an impact on the cost as well.

Dr James:

So what you're saying is it's possible to effectively get a physio for life, a free physio for life, uh without affecting your premiums whatsoever.

Warren:

Yeah, in in terms of it won't have it's not going to be good as a claim, um, which which you know, one of the things that affects the future cost of um private medical insurance premiums is your claims history. So if you're likely to be sort of having regular physio um because you're you know playing five-side football five times a week, for instance, then having a an insurer that is gonna ignore the physio claims when it when it comes to calculating you do premium is is a good is a good strategy. Um so but if that's not something you're gonna be doing, then it might be another element that is particularly importance to you.

Dr James:

Interesting. So it doesn't basically, if you already have the insurance, it's free to attend a physio with certain with certain insurers.

Warren:

It's always gonna be free. Um because it's generally included with with the policy. But with with some insurers, because they'll view that as a claim and they'll factor that in when they come to the renewal. Because it because unlike income protection, um, private medical insurance is very much like your car insurance or your buildings insurance, it's an annually renewable policy. Um and they then look as the same with your car insurance. So if you've had two claims in the past 12 in the past 12 months with your car insurance, you know your premium is going to go up. And it's exactly the same with private medical insurance as well. So most insurers would say you've been claiming, so therefore your premium going forward is going to be higher. Um some insurers won't do that because physiotherapy if it's within their network of chosen physiotherapists.

Dr James:

Right. Okay, it makes complete sense. Did not know that. There we are. And what is the in your experience, Warren, dealing with clients who've had various uh ailments over the years and you know, being an insurance broker for them, what would you say the most common uh m maldies are, I guess, if you will, uh that keep dentists off work?

Warren:

I'd say back injuries are probably um a big thing. So musculoskeletal, I would say, are probably the most common thing. So um you know being a dentist it's a fairly high risk job from an insurer's perspective, not because of the environment that people are working in, but because of the the stresses and strains on the body as much as anything. Um, plus stress, anxiety, that type of thing as well. Um but I would say musculoskeletal, you know, sort of it's not unusual for people to get carpal tunnel, uh maybe elbow problems, shoulder problems, and back problems. So I would say that's probably the most common thing I've come across. Um so so access to good physio is is not a bad thing in that situation. So um, so and in fact, I know some dentists actually take regular physiotherapy not for treatment but purely for preventative. Um so sort of you know prevention better than cure.

Dr James:

So um what about access to mental health through private medical insurance? Because that's notoriously slow in the NHS.

Warren:

That is something that is an option. So um probably what it'd be worth doing at this stage. If I explain what you get pretty much with all basic private medical insurance policies, and then I'll sort of cover the the options that you have because you know there is the core cover, so essentially with any private medical insurance policy, if you just go for the basic policy, you're gonna be covered if you need to go into hospital have an operation, all your expenses are covered, so it won't cost you anything. Um but outside of that, there are various things you can add on. Um now, outpatient cover is one, and that covers things maybe you go to see a consultant, um probably um maybe some scans. Um typical consultation with a consultant might be roughly a couple of hundred pounds. So you can choose how much of outpatient cover you want. So some people will go for 500, 1,000 pounds, or you can go for unlimited cover. Um my recommendation is normally the the unlimited because then if you go for that, it includes all of your diagnostic tests. So if you have a limited amount of outpatient cover, you may actually burn all of that with just a 3,000 pound PET scan, in which case you've got to thump up two grand just to give a scan as part of your diagnosis. So if you go for a limited amount of outpatient cover, which is one of the options you can take, then you can go for unlimited diagnostic tests. So or if you just take the full outpatient cover or diagnostic toss diagnostic uh tests are covered. So if I can say it. Now, in terms of um other things that you can add on as well, um therapies cover, so you can go for uh therapies because it's not included automatically, and that's things like acupuncture, homeopathy, osteopathy, and chiropractic care. Um, mental health cover, which you touched on there, that can be added on as well. And that will include things like CBT or talking therapies, a wide range of different things. And again, that's an add-on. And it's not actually an expensive one. Um, in terms of the difference for cost for mental health, it's very, very small. Um, there's not a great deal of cost to it. So um, you know, if it's something that you think you might ever need, or if you feel stressed, it it's a very cheap add-on. Um one of the other options you can add on to your basic policy um is optical dental and hearing cover. Um, you probably won't be surprised to hear that that's not really very popular with dentists because they've already got the dental or cover generally through either a colleague or a friend or something. Um so you'd be paying for something that essentially isn't a lot of use. Um but there are other options within, so that's basically the types of things that you'll be potentially adding in. But within the policy, you've then got some other options because my approach to any insurance is to try and get really good cover but minimize the cost. So one of the methods you can use with private medical insurance is light car insurance is how you set the excess. Because there's gonna be an excess on the claim. Now normally what I suggest with the excess is you you set it as high as possible as long as it doesn't deter you from making a claim. So the most typical ones for my dentist clients is probably £250 or £500. And what I found when you crunch the numbers when you save enough in premiums by adding the excess that you'll actually save enough in premiums over about 14 or 15 months. To cover the excess. So as long as you're not claiming every single year, then you save a lot of money.

Dr James:

Interesting. There we go. Well, Warren, that was a pretty comprehensive rundown of private medical insurance. If anybody wants to reach out to you based on anything that you said today and the podcast, how are they best off doing that?

Warren:

Um they can obviously uh reach out um through um I assume the contact details will be um attached to the podcast. Um that's probably the safest way, just um you know reach out through the link um and then it's possible to book a meeting straight into my diary, um, so which is uh readily available online um uh or potentially give me a call. Um my mobile number is 0797 093361. So I'm always happy to take a call. Um just on the basis that I won't always be able to answer it on in a meeting as I am now.

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Dr. James Martin

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