Britain’s biggest insurers have seen a surge in customers getting private health cover as NHS waiting lists hit record highs amid unprecedented strike action and lasting knock-on effects from lockdown policies.
NHS struggles are presenting business opportunities for major insurance companies who seek to capitalise on waiting lists, delays, and strikes, which has seen Aviva and Bupa collectively adding hundreds of thousands of new customers to their bottom line.
An Aviva spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email that in the last few years, it has “seen a consistent increase in new business sales for private medical insurance both by individuals and small businesses in the UK, as well as growing demand from corporate clients.”
Aviva is now providing private medical insurance to 170,000 more people in the UK than this time last year. It has over 1 million customers.
The spokesperson said that whilst “we would not attribute this to any single factor, intermediaries tell us that concerns regarding the pressures on the NHS post-COVID-19 are definitely a significant driver.”
“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,” she added.
‘The Sad Truth’
Chris Steele, founder and editor of myTribe Insurance, a private health insurance and healthcare consumer information website, told The Epoch Times that the NHS is the “closest thing we’ve got to a national religion” and people feel very loyal towards it.“But at the same time, if you look at the current backlog, 7.6 million people are waiting for treatment in England,” he said.
“I think although there is this overall national pride and strength of feeling towards the NHS, there’s a very high probability that you know somebody that’s currently in the NHS system and the probability is that they’re having some problems,” Mr. Steele said.
“I would love the NHS to be working really well as well. I think that'd be great for the UK but the sad truth is that it’s not, there are many people that are having to wait for extended periods of time for treatment,” he added.
He said that a big number like 7.6 million may not really resonate with people, whereas what’s more probable is that people hear from friends and family members who have had extended waits or bad experiences, and then that prompts them to start looking at health insurance for the first time.
The survey found that only 7 percent of Britons think the NHS is “Fine as it is,” with 84 percent saying change is needed and four in five admitting they are worried about the state of healthcare in the UK.
He said, however, that private health insurance isn’t a “silver bullet” because if you’ve got a pre-existing condition, then those conditions won’t be covered.
Pay for the Treatment Themselves
“The unfortunate thing is we often get people coming to us asking for a quote and they’re they’re on a waiting list. And it’s too late, health insurance can’t help these people,” Mr. Steele said.“So for many people, it’s wait on the NHS or find the money to fund the treatment themselves,” he said.
He added that they frequently hear from people who are on a waiting list for a hip replacement for example and they look for health insurance to try and speed things up.
But in such a case, the only realistic option is for them to try to find the money to pay for the treatment themselves, which can mean using savings, getting a loan or pulling money together from family. A hip replacement done privately can cost somewhere in the region of £14,000, while cancer treatment can reach hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Mr. Steele also added that while this year in particular, there’s been a surge of people taking out health insurance for the first time, employers are too.
“Employers are increasingly taking out health insurance to protect their staff but also to protect their business. You don’t want your team off for extended periods of time because they’re waiting for NHS treatments,” he added.
Millions Waiting for Treatment
A record 7.6 million people in England at the end of June were waiting for routine NHS treatment according to the latest figures released in mid-August by NHS England, with two in five patients waiting more than 18 weeks to be seen. This was up from 7.5 million in May.Figures obtained through freedom of information requests from the Labour Party on Thursday found that an estimated 121,000 patients died while waiting for NHS treatment in England last year.
The situation doesn’t look like it will let up anytime soon. On Friday junior and senior doctors said that will hold a joint strike for the first time in the history of the health service in what has been described as a “serious escalation” in their row over pay.
The co-ordinated industrial action is set to take place in September and October.
On average, around a thousand people every day in Britain are told they have cancer for the first time.
“You only had to look at the vast, empty hospital car parks throughout lockdown to realise that doctors simply weren’t seeing people who needed help,” Professor Sikora told Spiked.
‘People Turning To Private Health Insurance Year On Year’
People’s attitudes to private health insurance are changing with an increasing number of patients turning to the private sector for elective procedures.When ABI asked about insurance, it found 50 percent or more of respondents said that those who can afford to take out health and protection products “should be encouraged to do so.”
An ABI spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email that “the independent healthcare sector has worked side by side with the NHS for decades, and has a role to play in complementing its vital work.”
She said that since 2018, it has seen more people turning to private health insurance year on year and in 2021 almost 5.5 million people were covered by individual and group policies, the highest number since 2009.
