Private medical insurance patients use NHS

Even as the NHS suffers under budget pressure and ever increasing demand, with may PCTs facing financial difficulties, many customers with private medical insurance are still using NHS facilities.

May GPs are not aware that their patients have private health insurance, or that there could be a willingness to pay for healthcare services. Every time a private medical insurance patient is treated outside the NHS, it frees up funds for those that need it.

Some health insurance experts insist that private patients should use private hospitals, and insurance companies should make it as easy as possible for them to do so.