UK health insurance premiums will rise by at least a fifth in 2024 due to a rise in the number and cost of claims as NHS waiting lists rise.
Health cover taken out by individual and via workplace cover soared in demand last year, with almost £3 billion paid out in claims alone, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which said this was the highest annual total on record.
A record 4.4 million people are now covered by health insurance through their employer and around one million claims have been made over the past year, the ABI said earlier this month.
Waiting lists for the NHS, which have grown since the Conservatives came to government, further shot up with the extra demand that results during and since the onset of the Covid pandemic.
The number of people out of work due to long-term sickness has reached a record high, the Office for National Statistics reported earlier this year.
One health insurance industry adviser told Reuters that because costs of medical staff and services are rising faster than the headline rate of inflation, rates for some workplace schemes were being hiked by more than 40%.
"Where in the past, PMI (private medical insurance) used to be considered a back-up, it is now becoming the primary point of access into the healthcare system," said a senior consultant at Mercer Marsh Benefits told the newswire.
The UK's largest health insurers include privately owned BUPA, Aviva PLC, France's AXA, Western Provident, Saga PLC (LSE:SAGA) and Vitality, which is owned by South Africa's Discovery Holdings.