The number of people who are paying for their own private medical treatment within private hospitals is decreasing, according to the company who own BMI Healthcare which run over 50 private health care centres in the UK. More people are taking out private medical insurance to cover to cost of surgical procedures in private hospitals, such as BMI. This number increased last year despite a recession, and it clearly demonstrates that that this is the most popular option to cover private healthcare costs. Asking the hospital for a self pay package is a way to have access to top quality private treatment on a pay-as-you-go basis. You get a self-pay price from the hospital (which you can then often negotiate down) and then you can compare private hospital services and costs. A self-pay arrangement is useful because of the unpredictable nature of falling ill, but at the same time could end up costing huge amounts of money if a major operation is needed. Private medical insurance, whether traditional or bespoke, is a way to avoid this huge cost, by just paying a small monthly premium.

Search engine Google has also started to report an increase in the number of people searching for private medical insurance on the internet after a decline in 2008 and the beginning of this year. This could be for a number of reasons:

• Firstly it could be people who are looking for a cheaper alternative to their existing private medical insurance policies. Freedom Healthnet could offer a solution to this problem as its cash plan style health insurance is one of the lowest cost ways of having access to this top quality level of medical care.
• Secondly, it could be people who are looking for a quote for private medical insurance. Quotes can be gained quickly on easily online on company websites such as Freedom Healthnet.