With NHS waiting lists at record highs, more and more people are turning to private healthcare.
Mark Bailie, chief of Comparethemarket.com, said on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg last week the comparison site now gets 90,000 to 100,000 visitors a month looking for private medical insurance (PMI), an 80pc surge in three months.
Meanwhile, a recent YouGov survey found one in eight Britons (13pc) have used private healthcare in the last year, a third of whom were doing so for the first time ever.
The extreme pressure on the NHS is driving growing numbers of people to seek treatment privately. More than seven million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February, the highest since records began, according to figures from NHS England.
However the demand for PMI has been growing ever since the pandemic, experts said.
Five and a half million people were covered by individual and group PMI policies in 2021, according to the latest data from the Association of British Insurers. This is the largest number of people covered by PMI since 2009.
The insurer Aviva said the number of people taking out PMI has surged by 100,000 every year since 2020. A spokesman said: “We have noted many individuals considering private health insurance for the first time, including significant interest from younger age groups who traditionally would not have viewed private health insurance as a priority.”
More people are going private to beat long queues for operations, GP appointments and dental work. The average cost of a typical comprehensive PMI policy is £1,033 per year, or £86 per month, according to research by private healthcare information website MyTribe Insurance.
Plans are especially expensive for older policyholders, with a 70-year-old paying £2,158 per year, double what a 50-year-old will usually pay.
But many people are deciding it is worth the cost to access treatment sooner. According to the recent YouGov survey, the main reason households went private was for speed. More than half (53pc) said they got treatment privately because they believed it would be quicker.
Graeme Trudgill, of British Insurance Brokers' Association, a trade body, said: “As well as playing a part in relieving pressure on the NHS, having private medical insurance allows you to receive treatment quickly or at your convenience, causing less disruption to your life and alleviating the stress of waiting to be seen.”
A comprehensive plan will cover treatment for acute illnesses and injuries such as knee replacements and cataract surgery, which are some of the most common procedures conducted under PMI, according to consultants Private Healthcare Information Network.
Conditions such as cancer and heart disease are also covered, and it is these long-term illnesses that often push people to go private. The waiting times for conditions like cancer can be significantly shorter. Tim Cowan, of PMI brokers Anderson Health, said: “Treatment of cancer has come under considerable time constraint pressure recently with the NHS.”
Mr Cowan said in recent years there had also been a huge spike in private claims for mental health issues, where waiting times on the NHS can also be also extremely long. Dentistry, he added, is another area where it is far easier to get treatment privately than if you go through the NHS.
However, PMI premiums will be higher if you want treatment for dentistry, mental health services or treatment from a chiropractor or osteopath.
There are also some conditions that most PMI plans will not cover. Chronic conditions like diabetes, epilepsy and asthma will usually be excluded.
It is possible to get cover for these with more expensive international policies, such as Bupa Global, however customers should expect to pay double.
Mr Cowan said in some areas, however, NHS services were typically considered to be better, pointing specifically to maternity care. “Childbirth is one of the areas the NHS tends to excel, regardless of the current state of play,” he said.
“Routine childbirth is not covered on UK PMI plans although it can be covered on the more expensive International plans by way of a 10-month moratorium. UK PMI plans normally only cover complications in childbirth but not elective procedures such as caesarean section.”
Most PMI policies offer telephone, video or online private GP consultations. For an additional cost, some offer face-to-face consultations with a private GP. Some policies will offer routine health checks which are not offered by the NHS.
To pay less for your insurance, you may want to consider cutting some aspects of your cover. You could increase your policy’s excess or reduce the number of hospitals available to you in the plan.