Releasing the pressure

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As the National Health Service comes under increasing financial strain, and the economic costs of sickness become more apparent, Michael Payne, outlines the part private medical insurance (PMI) could play through a restructure of current taxation rules

The PMI industry is on the verge of seeing a window of opportunity open to play a greater role in the provision of healthcare in the UK. Political pundits are foreseeing a change of government at the next election, while economic forecasters predict that the ever growing public debt burden can only be tackled by major curbing of public spending across all departments, including the Department of Health. The big ‘if’ Although there is no indication that any of the major political parties intend to cut the NHS budget, the above inflation increases in health spending over the last decade ...

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