Private medical insurance claims rise as City workers seek quicker care
Diagnostic tests top private medical insurance claims as City workers increasingly seek coverage for everyday health needs.
According to data from Howden, diagnostic tests and scans are number one across all categories, except for those over 65. This comes as the NHS waiting list has started to fall in recent months, yet 7.31m people across the country are still waiting for treatment.
With these delays, especially with around 1.7m people on the waiting list for diagnostic tests, the private healthcare market is seeing a surge in people turning to their policies.
“Quick access to imaging can be vital for spotting issues early, from potential cancers to neurological or musculoskeletal conditions, and private cover helps people avoid prolonged uncertainty,” stated Jon Carroll, executive director at Howden.
However, mental health services are key for those ages 18 to 24 and those aged 45 to 54, taking the second stop for those in Gen X.
Carroll explained that mental health services show “that private medical insurance isn’t just about covering major illness, it’s about everyday health concerns, early intervention and ongoing wellbeing”.
The data, which incorporates 2,000 people, also revealed that male policyholders are more likely to make a claim (47 per cent) than women (38 per cent).
While younger people are almost three and a half times more likely to claim on their policy than older people, 57 per cent of policyholders under 24 made at least one claim in the past five years compared with just 17 per cent of those aged 65 and over.
This data comes after employer-provided health insurance coverage reached a 30-year high, with 4.8m people now covered, according to ABI data released last week.
Streeting was an advocate for PMI to help ease NHS pressure
Health secretary Wes Streeting told the radio last week that, with NHS wait lists slowly dropping, “there is still so much more to do”.
Over the weekend, Streeting hit out at Reform UK’s private health insurance plan to offer tax relief of 20 per cent in all private healthcare policies if it won powers; however, Streeting claimed this would cost the country £1.7bn.
“Reform is committed to spending £1.7bn, not on staff, buildings, or technology, but on tax relief for customers of private healthcare.”