Updating the statistics in The Welfare State We're In, I have come across official figures for how many people opt to "pay twice" and have private medical insurance or some other kind of health insurance which might enable them to have private medical care.

The proportion of households with insurance of this sort or of a related sort are:

Private medical insurance 17 per cent
Permanent health insurance 3 per cent
Critical illness cover 8 per cent
Friendly society sickness insurance 2 per cent
Any other sickness insurance 2 per cent.

These figures should not be added together since a single household may have two or more of these sorts of insurance. Also, some of these policies are intended primarily to provide cash in case someone loses income because of ill-health. They are not intended for paying medical bills.

Nevertheless, the simple figure of 17 per cent for private medical insurance is quite a high one in a country where, in theory, everybody is covered by the NHS. It reveals a significant degree of belief - backed by cash - that the NHS will not provide an adequate service.

The figures are from the Family Resources Survey which can be reached here.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/frs/2003_04/pdfonly/frs_2003_04_report.pdf

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS

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