Private Medical Insurance

updated: January 22, 2010

When people are asked about the things that really matter to them, the most common answers are ‘my family’ and ‘my health’. We are privileged to live in a country that provides an unrivalled standard of healthcare to every citizen no matter what their financial status.

Most of us take the National Health Service (NHS) for granted but if you were born before 1948 you will have lived some of your life in an era when healthcare was a luxury not everyone could afford. The NHS became a reality on 5 July 1948. It is easy to forget that prior to that time, elderly people, for example, who were no longer able to look after themselves often ended their lives in the workhouse. This was a Victorian institution feared by everyone, where people worked unpaid in return for food and shelter. Although workhouses changed their names to Public Assistance Institutions in 1929, their character, and the stigma attached to them, remained.

Although the NHS offers excellent service for emergency treatment, the increased public demand for higher levels of treatment means that where your treatment is deemed to be non-urgent you may experience some delay. In order to recognise the priority that health has in their lives, many people are willing to pay for such non-urgent treatment themselves, either by paying for the treatment out of their own resources or by paying premiums to a private medical insurer.

To obtain further information please click here for our pdf Guide to Private Medical Insurance.