Families Spend £1,200 a Year On Private Healthcare

Families spend £1,200 a year on private healthcare

Households in the UK are spending almost £1,200 a year on private healthcare, a study has found, giving further evidence that the NHS is not "free at the point of use".

The research by the think tank Reform found that the biggest chunk of private healthcare spending is used for the long-term care of elderly and physically disabled people. The average household spends £471 a year on nursing homes and home care for the elderly and disabled.

Other key areas that make up the private healthcare spend include private medical products (£268), the hospital sector (£217) and dentistry (£93).

Andrew Haldenby, director of Reform, said the study further demonstrated that the NHS is not free at the point of use.

"The idea is a mirage, even a charade, which is preventing proper debate about the future of healthcare in this country," he stated.

Haldenby said it is good that UK citizens are taking responsibility for their own health by paying with their own resources. But he added that the government needs to find new ways to help people pay towards their health.

"It is absurd that the Department of Health (DH) is trying to block cancer patients buying better drugs on the grounds that NHS patients can't ‘top-up'," he stated. "On this evidence, a quarter of core health spending is a ‘top-up'. We have to modernise our funding system."

The research found that private spending on health services amounted to a total £30bn in 2006-07, compared with £96bn spent by the NHS.

A spokesman for the DH said: "We will never change the values of the NHS - universal, tax-funded, free at the point of need. Nobody should have to pay for any available NHS service, but patients have always had the choice of paying for private healthcare if they so wish."

Health Insurance Magazine: 20 February 2008