Private medical insurance is one way for people to avoid the waiting lists of the NHS and be seen in a place and time that is most convenient to them. Waiting lists is currently one of the main reasons for people to take out a private health insurance policy but with NHS waiting times becoming shorter all the time, some people have begun to question the relevance of having private health cover, especially in a financial environment where people are having to cut costs in every area of their daily expenditures. The Department of Health has recently announced that most people (over 94 percent) now only have to wait eight weeks or less from the time they are referred by their GP to their outpatient slot. This is all down to the increased government spending on the health service which has seen waiting times drop from 18 months in some cases. Despite this, there has been some other factors which have meant that the number of people taking out private health insurance increased again last year.


In clamping down on waiting times, the NHS has classed a number of procedures as non-urgent. These treatments tend to have longer waiting lists as a result, and although they are not life threatening, the procedures such as cataract operations can make a big difference to the condition of a person’s life. This might mean that people would prefer to still have private healthcare to be treated in an even shorter time. These sorts of conditions can also keep people off work for lengthy periods, so employers could still be attracted to health insurance for their staff to help get them back to work as quick as possible, rather than having them wait for NHS care. The future also seems uncertain for some people as the increased government spending on the NHS is likely to take big cuts in the coming years. Private health insurance is a good guarantee that a patient will be treated in the shortest possible time span.