Of course, no one likes to get sick, but what makes this condition even more unpleasant is the need to allocate significant financial resources to cover the cost of treatment. In recent years, there has been an increasing trend in health care costs around the world. In this situation, health insurance can help you. What is permanent health insurance?
Permanent Health Insurance (PHI) is an insured benefit that provides income to an individual if they are unable to work due to illness or injury for more than a minimum period of time. Your employer or organization may call it income protection, group income protection, long-term disability (LTD) or salary continuance. It also makes sense to take a closer look at the medical system in the UK, so you can see the main features.
National Health Insurance in the UK
The National Health Insurance is free in the UK and covers all medical services and drugs prescribed by a doctor. The National Health Service (NHS), a government organisation, organises medical care. It pays for inpatient and outpatient treatment, general practitioners, specialists, medicines, dental care, mental health care, rehabilitation, etc.
Despite the fact that state health insurance is free and provides full coverage, private health insurance providers also operate in Great Britain. This is primarily due to the fact that the state health care system has some drawbacks, in particular, patients are forced to wait for a long time for the necessary procedure, cannot choose the time of the procedure, the doctor and the medical institution. It is these factors that contribute to the development of private health insurance, as it avoids all these problems and, in addition, can provide a higher level of service and confidentiality.
Both for-profit and non-profit organizations are present in the UK private insurance market. According to 2006 data, 12% of the country’s population used the services of private insurance companies, and this business segment accumulated 1% of health care costs. It should be noted that patients can pay for some services on their own; these costs account for 90% of total household health care expenditures.
Despite the increase in spending on public health insurance in most EU member states, private health insurance is much less developed. And only a few follow the advice of experts who predict an increasing role for private health insurance and make it compulsory for the entire population, such as the Netherlands.