NHS waiting times are up by six per cent according to official figures and the experts tell us this will only get worse. Paul Shires looks at the impact on the health insurance sector.
In the past, a natural answer would have been to look towards the private sector for treatment. As the government enforces its austerity measures, more and more patients may be left with the choice of a long and painful wait for NHS treatment or looking at alternative health insurance options that will help them access the healthcare they need more quickly.
The general public are now becoming accustomed to funding certain areas of their own healthcare that the NHS is not always able to provide free of charge, such as sight tests and dental care – and self-paying for surgery is becoming increasingly commonplace.
Last December, four private healthcare companies reported a surge in the number of self-pay procedures from patients looking to avoid lengthy waiting lists and access treatment faster. The rise came at the same time as the DoH reported a drop of more than four per cent in the number of GP referrals for NHS procedures.
But with the average cost of a hip replacement starting at £7,000 and an MRI scan at £350, private treatment does not come cheap – and many cannot afford to pay out, leaving them no choice but to wait.
A damaging economic side effect of these developments is that employers face losing staff to sickness absence for more extensive periods of time and, therefore, the increased risk of declining productivity.
The Confederation of British Industry’s estimation that sickness absence is costing the UK economy £17bn per year poses a threat to organisations at a time when just keeping their heads above water is tough for many. It is natural that employers will look to health insurance firms to provide innovative and affordable solutions to help them keep their employees fit.
Longer waiting lists spell increases in sickness absence so, logically, employers will want to find ways to better manage this risk and the financial burden that comes with it.
But private medical insurance (PMI) comes at a cost, and with many businesses tightening the purse strings, funding PMI premiums may seem prohibitive.
A current trend for businesses with PMI already in place is to increase the excess as a way of controlling the cost. In response to this, several health cash plan providers have introduced benefits specifically designed to enable employees to claim back the excess on their PMI scheme.
But while this approach of operating a health cash plan alongside PMI can save money in the short term, how sustainable is it? As the health service moves deeper into a period of unprecedented change, the more forward-thinking cash plan providers are seizing the opportunity to innovate further and develop comprehensive products and benefits to fill the gaps that appear in service provision.
