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Growth in private insurance undermines support for the NHS

The take-up of private health insurance is greatest in those areas with the longest NHS waiting lists, and people who are privately insured are less likely to support greater NHS spending than those who are not, new evidence shows.

The result, according to researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, could be a ‘downward spiral’ of services hand-in-hand with falling popular support for the NHS.

‘Cuts in real services that precipitate an increase in private insurance may actually result in more pressure for lower spending’, they concluded. The result would be a residualised, safety-net NHS.

The research is based on analysis of regional waiting list figures and five years data from the British Social Attitudes Survey. The figures show an association between the length of local NHS waiting lists and purchase of private health insurance. People who express dissatisfaction with the NHS are more likely to buy private insurance than those who do not.

The results undermine the official view that commercial medicine helps the NHS by allowing those who can afford it to go private, thus relieving pressure on the health service. By contrast, the IFS researchers believe that ‘the extent of private insurance can potentially change political support for the NHS’.

Tax relief on individual policies for people over 65 was introduced in 1990. Overall, about 14 per cent of the UK population is covered by private health insurance, half of whom are in employer-paid schemes. In almost all regions, the number hs risen over the past decade.

Private health insurance and the state of the NHS. IFS, 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE. £7.50.