What could Brexit mean for PMI enquiries in the UK?

By Ian Sawyer, Commercial Director at Assured Futures (www.assuredfutures.co.uk)

Here at Assured Futures, we witnessed a huge increase in the number of enquiries made for private medical insurance between the 12/12/19 and 14/12/19, just as the most recent general election was taking place. Searches peaked as the election results came through (13/12/19), at 1,072% higher than forecasted figures for that day.

This site data came as somewhat of a surprise following the election, as whilst admittedly we’d historically witnessed a spike in searches for income protection following notable events (e.g. the EU referendum in 2016), we’d certainly never seen such a spike in medical insurance enquiries during heavily political periods.

Following the December search spike, we are predicting that policy enquiries to our site will double following the UK’s exit from the European Union on January 31^st .  We attribute this assumption to the enormous amount of media attention the future of the NHS will undoubtedly receive, alongside the ‘project fear’ narration likely to dominate some of the newspaper headlines.

Regardless of the current political climate, it’s very hard to ignore the fact that the NHS has always struggled to operate sustainably. The increasing amount of pressure already taking its toll on the service, coupled with the fact that we have a rapidly growing aged population, means that without a injection of financial funding from external sources the demand on the NHS and its resources will constantly outstrip what it has to offer.

The NHS is a British institution that we should all be immensely proud of, but for those with the means of doing so, investing in private medical insurance is the most viable alternative to relieve pressure on the hardworking doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants across the UK. One might wrongly assume that there is a ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to making a purchase, but policies can in fact be tailored to suit your exact requirements. It’s also worth noting that the younger one takes the jump to invest in their future health, the more comprehensive cover they will receive, due to their lack of pre-existing conditions. Always seek an advice, and use a broker.