Your membership cover
- How do I add other members of my family to my membership?
- Is there a complaints procedure for BUPA members?
- How will my complaint be dealt with?
- Why has my subscription increased following my BUPA membership renewal?
- Change in circumstances
- Changes outside our control
- How can I reduce the amount I pay for my BUPA membership?
How do I add other members of my family to my membership?
You can apply to add your partner or your children (including newborn children/adopted children) as dependants on your membership.
To do this you will need to complete an application to alter your registration form. Please contact us for details.
Is there a complaints procedure for BUPA members?
Yes there is. Please visit our contact us section for full details.
How will my complaint be dealt with?
If we have not been able to resolve the problem and you wish to take your complaint further, you can contact our Head of Customer Relations. Please write to BUPA, The Anchorage Quay, Salford Quays, Manchester, M5 2XL or phone 0845 6066 739 (8am-5pm Monday to Friday. BT landline calls to 0845 numbers will cost no more than 3 pence per minute. Charges from other providers may vary and calls made from mobiles usually cost more. Calls may be recorded and may be monitored). You will need to give full details of your complaint and what you would like us to do to resolve the matter.
If we can't sort out your complaint immediately we will acknowledge your complaint within five business days. We will then endeavour to send you our full response within 15 business days. If you remain dissatisfied our Head of Customer Relations, or nominated deputy, will review your complaint and make sure we have handled your case fairly and reasonably. Your complaint will be dealt with confidentially and will not affect how we treat you in the future.
Financial Ombudsman Service
It's very rare that we can't settle a complaint, but if this does happen, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You can write to them at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR, or call them on 0845 080 1800. The Ombudsman will look into your complaint if we have told you that we can do no more and we have been unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction. You may also refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service in the unlikely event that you have not received our final decision within eight weeks from the date that you originally complained.
The Ombudsman only looks at complaints about:
- the administration of your membership; or
- the handling of any claims
- the way in which your membership was sold to you
The Financial Ombudsman Service does not cover some areas of your membership, such as the type of risk we choose to accept. The Ombudsman will not usually be able to deal with complaints where:
- we gave you our final decision more than six months ago
- your case already involves (or has involved) legal action or arbitration proceedings
- they have dealt with your case before.
If something has gone wrong, we want to do everything we can to put it right. But none of these procedures affect your legal rights. We keep a record of every complaint, look at how many we receive and the reasons that members complain. We also record and examine your comments and use them along with member surveys to help make sure we continually improve our service.
Why has my subscription increased following my BUPA membership renewal?
BUPA is a provident association. This means we have no shareholders who expect to receive dividends, so we can invest any profits we make in better benefits and services for members like you. It also means we can keep subscriptions as low as possible. However, from time to time, we may have to increase your subscriptions.
The main reasons for increases are:
- to keep pace with medical inflation
- the increase in the number of members claiming, and the increase in claims costs
The cost of medical treatment increases as medical technology advances, such as laser surgery, keyhole surgery and MRI scans instead of X-rays. We monitor the total number of claims that BUPA receives and change subscriptions accordingly, to make sure that we can cover future claims.
To maintain the level of healthcare cover you expect from BUPA whilst keeping subscriptions as low as possible, we continually work with hospitals and consultants to ensure the most cost-efficient service is provided. That's why we have networks for hospitals that work within the price guidelines agreed with BUPA. And, by forging close links with consultants through BUPA's Consultant Partnership, they agree to charge within a pre-arranged fee structure, thereby helping ensure no financial surprises for you.
Change in circumstances
During your membership with BUPA, your circumstances may change. Some of these changes may affect your subscriptions, such as including a partner or children in your registration, and increasing or decreasing your level of cover. As members become older, the number and cost of their claims tends to increase which is reflected in subscription charges, too.
BUPA continually monitors the benefits we offer to ensure that they meet members' needs. From time to time we may alter our benefits, which may have an associated change in subscription. This change would only occur at renewal.
Changes outside our control
If the Government or other regulatory authority makes changes outside our control (such as increasing insurance premium tax) these will be passed on to our members.
How can I reduce the amount I pay for my BUPA membership?
You may be able to reduce your subscriptions if you start making payments annually by direct debit. Depending on your scheme, you may also choose to have an excess option for your next membership year.
You might want to take a look at one of our other schemes and, in return for limiting your cover to partnership network hospitals or agreeing to pay some of your consultation costs, for example, you could reduce your subscription.
If you would like any further details or advice on how to reduce your subscriptions or if you're experiencing difficulty in meeting your payments, please contact us on 0800 010 383. Lines are open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. Calls may be recorded and may be monitored. Calls from landlines are free, however mobile phone providers may charge.