Health insurance statistics

We’ve looked into the latest health insurance statistics in the UK, such as how health insurance costs have increased over time, how they fare compared to the most popular insurances and why health insurance might be worth looking further into.

Health insurance statistics UK: Highlights

An estimated 22% of UK adults had health insurance at the end of 2022, around 11.7 million people. This is an 83% increase from 2021, when only around 6.4 million people (12%) had health insurance.
A typical health insurance premium for a family of 2 adults and 2 children is between £700 and £1,800 per year.
Nearly 3 in 5 (57%) people chose private healthcare so they could be seen more quickly.
Almost half (48%) of all people who chose private healthcare used it for non-emergency appointments.
Only 1 in 10 (10%) of those who use private healthcare do so for emergency appointments.
A quarter (25%) of people accessing private healthcare do so through a healthcare scheme at work.
Nearly a quarter (24%) of people paying for private healthcare dip into their savings to do so.
Nearly 1 in 10 (8%) of people who access private healthcare borrow money to cover the costs.

How many people have health insurance?

An estimated 11.7 million people (22%) have health insurance in the UK in 2022, an 83% increase from 2021, when only 6.4 million people (12%) had health insurance. This increase may be due to the strain on the NHS following the coronavirus pandemic.

A typical health insurance premium for a family of 2 adults and 2 children is between £700 and £1,800 per year.

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Year	People that have health insurance
2022	11,700,000
2021	6,900,000

Why do people choose private health care?

A 2023 poll of UK adults who chose private healthcare found that nearly 3 in 5 (57%) did this so they could be seen more quickly. A further 19% indicated that private healthcare provided a better service than the NHS. For around 1 in 10 people (11%), private healthcare was the only option available.

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Reason to choose private health care	Percentage of those that chose private healthcare
Don't know	2%
Change in personal financial circumstances	4%
Other	7%
It was the only option available	11%
Better service provided	19%
So I could be seen more quickly	57%

What do people use private healthcare for?

Nearly half (48%) of people who chose private healthcare used it for non-emergency appointments. Around 1 in 5 people (20%) use private healthcare for routine appointments, whilst 17% of people use private healthcare for a minor illness or injury.

Interestingly, only 1 in 10 (10%) of those who use private healthcare do so for emergency appointments.

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What do people use private healthcare for	Percentage of those that chose private healthcare
Don't know	3%
An emergency appointment	10%
Other	16%
A minor illness or injury	17%
A routine appointment	20%
Non-emergency appointment (e.g. operation, procedure, tests)	48%

How do people pay for private healthcare?

Around 29% of people pay for private healthcare using their disposable income, whilst almost a quarter (24%) use their savings. Meanwhile, a quarter (25%) of people accessing private healthcare do so through a healthcare scheme at work. Nearly 1 in 6 (14%) people pay for private health insurance for themselves.

Nearly 1 in 10 (8%) of people who access private healthcare borrow money to cover the costs, with some asking family or friends for money (6%), whilst others take out a loan (2%).

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How did people pay for private health care	Percentage of those that chose private health care
Using savings	24%
Disposable income	29%
Through a private healthcare scheme at work	25%
Borrowed money from friends/family/other people	6%
Took out a loan	2%
Through insurance you pay for yourself	14%
Some other way	7%
Don't know	2%
Prefer not to say	3%

The expense and waiting times for common medical treatments

We’ve ranked 6 medical treatments based on the cost of the treatment and the average waiting time for the treatment on the NHS. Both knee surgery and hip replacement surgery are good examples of when a person would save time and money by being covered by private health insurance.*

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Treatment	Cost of private treatment	Average wait time on NHS
Knee replacement	£11,814	13.5 weeks
Hip replacement	£10,776	13.5 weeks
Cataract surgery	£2,410	12.4 weeks
MRI scan	£1,298	2.6 weeks
Skin lesion removal	£940	6.5 weeks
CT scan	£870	2.2 weeks

*These calculations are from data obtained in 2021.

Sources

YouGov
MoneyHelper
Statista

Quick facts

The average premium for UK private health insurance is £1,435 per year
Over half (53%) of the UK population admitted they would pay for private healthcare treatment
13% of UK consumers claim to belong to the Private Medical Insurance scheme

The average spend on insurance premiums in 2019 by type

Most people own more than one type of insurance, with the majority of the 1,046 respondents here reporting to have at least car, home or contents insurance.

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Type of insurance	Percentage
Car	63%
Home	55%
Contents	50%
Life	35%
Private health	13%
Accident	11%
Legal expenses	9%
Statuatory health	7%
Personal liability	6%
None of the above	13%
Other	8%
Don't know	2%

Private health insurance is the fifth-most owned type, with 13% of respondents saying they have it. Car insurance is the most popular insurance type due to it being mandatory for the vast majority of all drivers, while private health insurance is costly and often covers treatments that are also provided for free by the NHS.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of health insurance over time

CPI is a statistical estimate based on the weighted average of a group of items in a certain market. CPI essentially indicates how much something costs compared to other products or services. Over an 11-year period from 2008 to 2019, the CPI for health insurance has shown steady but consistent growth, to peak at 121 in 2019.

CPI 2008-2019
Table

Year	CPI
2008	65
2009	68
2010	75
2011	80
2012	86
2013	92
2014	97
2015	100
2016	107
2017	112
2018	116
2019	121

The increased CPI indicates that health insurance has steadily increased in price over the last 11 years. The average year-on-year increase in price for health insurance over this 10-year period is 6% per year.

The expense and waiting times for common medical treatments

We’ve ranked 6 medical treatments based on the cost of the treatment and the average waiting time for the treatment on the NHS. Both knee surgery and hip replacement surgery are good examples of when a person would save time and money by being covered by private health insurance.

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Table

Treatment	Cost of private treatment	Average wait time on NHS
Knee replacement	£11,814	13.5 weeks
Hip replacement	£10,776	13.5 weeks
Cataract surgery	£2,410	12.4 weeks
MRI scan	£1,298	2.6 weeks
Skin lesion removal	£940	6.5 weeks
CT scan	£870	2.2 weeks

With private health insurance costing just over a tenth of the cost of the 2 replacement surgeries (£1,435 a year), which demand that you wait around 13 weeks for the treatment under the NHS, you can see how health insurance can appear to be the more desirable option. The scans, on the other hand, cost a similar amount to an annual health insurance payment and require only a 2-week wait under the NHS.

The NHS at a glance

The budget for the Department of Health and Social Care back in 2020 was £139.3 billion, £5.4 billion more than in 2019.
In 2019, the NHS employed more than 1.2 million people in the UK.
At the time, the average staff member working full time earned a basic salary of £32,000.
Before the pandemic hit, there were over 24,000 calls to 999 in August 2019.

How prepared for Coronavirus was the NHS?

Although there is a wide range of variables that need to be taken into account, such as each country’s lockdown precautions and the number of tests carried out, this graph does appear to show how there was once a broad correlation between medical resources available and fatality rate regarding how each countries healthcare system handled the pandemic when it first hit back in 2020.

The NHS in Comparison
Table

	Doctors (per 1000)	Nurses (per 1000)	Hospital Beds (per 100,000)	Mortality Rate rate (%)
China	2	2.7	4.2	4.04
Spain	3.9	5.7	3	6.58
UK	2.9	7.8	2.4	5.04
Italy	4	6.7	3.4	9.51
France	3.4	10.8	6.5	4.33
South Korea	2.3	6.9	11.5	1.33
Germany	4.3	12.9	8.3	0.42

How much does NHS staff earn on average?

Of those working full time for the NHS, the mean basic pay is just under £32,000. This does, however, vary depending on your role and experience. The best-paid role at the NHS is as a hospital practitioner/clinical assistant, which pays on average £113,000 per year.

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Role	Basic salary (£)
Hospital Practitioner / Clinical Assistant	£113,765
Consultant	£91,978
Associate Specialist	£83,872
Other and Local HCHS Doctor Grades	£83,442
Senior managers	£80,315
HCHS doctors	£65,638
Specialty Doctor	£62,426
Staff Grade	£57,500
Managers	£48,826
Specialty Registrar	£43,041
Professionally qualified clinical staff	£39,348
Core Training	£38,470
Scientific, therapeutic & technical staff	£36,000
Midwives	£33,970
Nurses & health visitors	£32,385
All staf average	£31,866
Foundation Doctor Year 2	£31,097
NHS infrastructure support	£29,739
Ambulance staff	£28,277
Foundation Doctor Year 1	£27,028
Central functions	£26,614
Support to ST&T staff	£20,762
Support to ambulance staff	£20,416
Support to clinical staff	£19,934
Support to doctors, nurses & midwives	£19,714
Hotel, property & estates	£19,143
Other staff or those with an unknown classification	£19,089

A&E waiting times

There were 2.13 million attendances at A&E in August 2019. This is 6.4% more than there were in August 2018. The number of visits to A&E in the last 12 months was 3.9% higher than it was in the 12 months prior. While the vast majority of patients (86.3%) were seen in 4 hours or less, this is still far below the target rate of 95%, which was last met in July 2015. Over 260,000 patients waited longer than 4 hours, while 372 patients waited more than 12 hours to be seen.

The cost of an ambulance

There were over 24,000 calls to 999 in August 2019, 13,000 of which resulted in a patient being transported to an emergency department. In August 2019, the average response time to the most critical cases (known as C1) was 7 minutes and 5 seconds, just above the target time of 7 minutes. The next most severe incidents (C2) had an average response time of 21 minutes and 13 seconds in August 2019, longer than the 18-minute standard.

In 2019/2020, there were 14 NHS ambulance bodies in the UK – 11 in England and 1 in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
NHS ambulance trusts in England spent £92 million on private ambulances in 2018/2019, £2 million more than in the previous year.
Air ambulances in England, Northern Ireland and Wales are all provided by charities.
Scotland has one charity air ambulance to work alongside 4 NHS-funded air ambulances.