Rival to health insurance

Following on from the flood of news regarding private top-ups for drugs not currently available on the National Health Service, experts claim that the decision could create a product that rivals standard private medical insurance .

Last week, Alan Johnson announced that patients could pay for drugs without waiving the right to NHS care. Insurance companies have already expressed interest in the new industry, but Healthfund chief executive Andy Dean was reported as commenting that the announcement stops short of: endorsing a free-for-all public and private mix.

He further reiterated that a huge market was unlikely, reportedly saying: Any increases in the overall market will have to be funded by premiums from the general public, who will want to see far more value for money than many get with traditional PMI products. Also, if you take the products themselves, insurers will limit these with exclusions for age, financial amounts and personal and medical history. I think there are definitely opportunities for insurers to provide products to capitalise on the new proposals, but these will need to be much more straightforward and transparent than traditional PMI policies and be able to demonstrate real benefits for the patients, as well as for the insurers.

Whether the face of health insurance will change remains to be seen.