Whatever goverment is in power, it seems that the National Health Service is a financial thorn in its side. When Tony Blair's New Labour swept into office, one of its priorities was to address the chronic underfunding of the NHS and usher in a new bright era for those worked in the service and those who used it.

Unfortunately, it has had limited success. Long hospital waiting lists remain as abig a problem as ever while stories of patients waiting on trolleys in corridors for treatment because no beds are available are commonplace. In light of such events sales of private mediacal insurance should be booming as people seek to jump the long queues and receive medical care in more comfortable surroundings than the average Health Service hospital ward.

Yet this is not the case. After the boom of the Eighties, sales of private medical insurance have remained have remained stagnant since the early Nineties. In theory, private medical insurance makes good sense, providing a cast-iron guarantee that you will receive medical treatment where and when you want it.

But in practice the companies that dominate the market have not made the product user-friendly. Private Medical Insurance policies have more holes, or exclusions, than a Swiss cheese and premiums are not cheap.

Indeed, the sector has consistently incurred the wrath of the Office of Fair Trading which believes that too many of its products are too complex. The path to private medical insurance should be trodden with care.

 

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