Obi Wan Kenobi

It doesn't really matter why you are in debt when push comes to shove. Simply put, if you expected not to get some stick for asking on here then you should have read the stick going on in other, less contentious threads before posting. Whether you like the tone of the replies or not it simply comes down to the fact, as already stated, that if you leave the debt unserviced you will end up with liens being taken against your property because they have that link to you. If ignored further you could end up losing the property in its entirety. Common decency probably would say sort it before you run away from it, but the fact you even considering running at all suggests otherwise.

Good curry house (Indian) pretty much just over the road from there too called Journey to Bollywood. It's pretty new and we ate there when visiting in January.

You are probably right but if I let my UK BUPA lapse I will never get back on with everything I want covered because I've had stuff done over the years. At least if I continue it in Oz if I ever go back to UK I can just resume full-coverage again. Hands are somewhat tied.

I am / was in discussion with their rep in London who knows everything regarding our circumstances so in reality they should be quoting the right figures, but who knows. I haven't been contacted for a week or more after leaving it their hands to see if there were some other discounts / benefits that could be applied. That's including leaving a message on their answer machine this morning asking for a call back. I am guessing I may end up having to sort this in a BUPA office on the Sunshine Coast once I get there. I know what you mean regarding leaving things out but with my old sports injuries / wear and tear and that old favourite called sod's law that means you end up needing just the thing you didn't cover, I am loathe to leave something out... although IVF will definitely not be needed here either!!! Like I said, I feel like I am over a barrel either way but I guess that's the joy of being a customer!!

For me and the wife we pay around £220 a month in the UK. We want top cover with minimal excess in Oz and are looking at quotes of around $600 a month without applying any tax refunds as we have no clue what level of deduction we would be eligible for, if any. So virtually double the UK cost. I will be getting it at some level but it's a tough swallow.

I am currently looking at getting BUPA PHI in Australia and also cannot believe that they charge so much and yet there is still a shortfall that can amount to thousands if you end up needing major work. I have been a BUPA UK member for many years and have expressed my disbelief to the BUPA Oz rep. that the only benefit I'd be entitled to was immediate cover rather than waiting 12 months. Also, they have you over a barrel because if you do not join them in Oz and cancel your UK subscriptions they are never going to take you back on in the UK without precluding anything you may have claimed for in the past. Their rep. said they would contact BUPA Oz and see if there were any more benefits available for someone who had been a member for so long. I am still waiting (over a week) for the return call so I am not sure how successful the enquiry is going to be. As to extras that end up having to be paid even with insurance. I recently had an operation and had to get permission for it to go ahead. This is usual but they have started to request patient's notes to ensure that the work "really needs to be done!" How someone sat behind a desk is able to figure this from reading specialist's notes beats me but it seems they are starting to try and resist authorising at least some treatments with the claim that they don't feel the procedure is necessary. Once they do authorise it the first thing they then tell you is whether the specialist charges within their fee scheme and that if not you will be liable for anything over this figure. This can amount to quite a sum on top of your monthly BUPA premiums just like in Oz so checking the specialist's fees beforehand is always advisable. Some will put this down to specialist's greed, and this will be the case sometimes, but having spoken to many in the profession it is more down to BUPA forcing them to keep their fees artificially low so they can keep their BUPA accreditation. They are paying for their predecessors greed when many specialists did screw the insurance companies, so now the roles have been reversed with respect to the screwing! So the PHI system in both countries is far from ideal but at least the flawed UK scheme is less expensive to have in place.

Actually just a quote from a book that sums up human nature in my view. Power corrupts all who end up wielding it eventually, whichever political belief system they have; and whether you like to admit it or not there are classes that have always existed and will always exist. This "everyone is equal" just doesn't exist even if in principal it should. You could argue that it is the fact that the "old class system" has broken down and has been replaced by the "I am equal and want it now whether I deserve it or can afford it" of today is a major problem in society theses days. After all it leaves no one with any aspirations to better themselves as was always the case throughout history. Once those aspirations are removed what motivation / inspiration does anyone of any class have to make a success of their life and actually provide a positive to society. Again this is not to provoke anyone into an argument, just to provide some insight into what the other side of the coin maybe in other people's minds. Just because your beliefs are not the same as theirs it doesn't mean anyone has to resort to insults / vitriol in response (which quite a few on the forums have recently.)

If you actually read what I said I said "to the person who said about Scargill" so before you get onto your soapbox get the facts right and you will save yourself heartburn. At no point did I say it was you I just couldn't find the person's name at the time. When I was at school a teacher told my parents that "if I read the question properly before attempting an answer I'd do a hell of a lot better!"

As George Orwell states in Animal Farm: "we are all equal, just some of us are more equal than others!" Socialist mantra although that will be denied. Everyone else just knows it's true without even doubting it. That's life. Always has been, always will be.

Again, from a totally independent point of view, and reading your replies all the way through this thread, and others regarding "everything Thatcher", I am guessing that the daily papers you get your facts, figures and quotes from are Izvestia and Pravda. It isn't just you on the "hate-Thatcher" side of the fence, it seems to be the majority of you that want to blame every problem that the UK currently has on what she did 30 years ago. If you all truly believe this then you are deluded and blind to all the policies since then that have screwed the place up, but you are entitled to your delusions like everyone else is. The problem as I stated before, as have others, is that there are two so totally divided sides to how people view Thatcher, why anyone is still arguing the same points again and again is rather perplexing. You will never agree with each other, just cause yourselves ulcers. Now to the person who says lauded Scargill as being dignified and decent... you do not know history or have been so brainwashed you probably think that the USA never went to the moon either. Only other thing I can think is you are a member of the Scargill family writing under a pseudonym!

I am quite able to converse and accept other people's opinions, even change my point of view if a point can be made / proven well enough. Some who have posted just seem to see things as black / white ( I won't use red / blue as I am not just talking politically) and give the impression that whatever was said / proven there would be no chance in hell they could see anything other than their original opinion being correct. And this being the case it would be pointless to continue this and let you know you must be right. Although you obviously already know this anyway.

and it seems that you just proved my point perfectly...

me thinks you are seeing this through a mirror as I mean just the reverse.... but I am not referring to every single person of that ilk. or you may have been trying to be a smarty-pants and just yanking my chain

When I worked in a certain area a few years back the saying in the town was "if they put a donkey in a red jacket on the town hall steps during an election the people there would still vote for it because of their political viewpoint." I didn't really believe that that could actually be the case until I see certain people repeatedly and unwaveringly spouting their political agendas on this thread. Oh what it must be like to be brainwashed and right all the time whatever the facts actually are. No point arguing the toss with people like that because even if any single fact of their belief system was ever proven to be false, even by one of their own, they would never believe it or change their stand-point. Best to let them just spout amongst themselves and live in their own little deluded worlds.

Putting it bluntly, who gives a sh-t? How many different ways can a single person be character annihilated? Gets boring.