Private healthcare policy sales have doubled in the last year, according data from health insurance adviser ActiveQuote.
The data reveals that the number of private medical insurance (PMI) policies sold by ActiveQuote rose by 144% in the last quarter compared with the corresponding quarter of last year.
Across the country, Wales saw the highest growth within that time with sales jumping 156%, followed by Northern Ireland at 153% and the West Midlands at 139%.
London and the South East of England recorded the lowest uptake, with sales increasing by 50% in the capital and by 68% in the South East.
The capital also saw the biggest decrease in its distribution share of overall sales.
Commenting on the findings, Rod Jones, head of sales and operations at ActiveQuote, said: “What these figures clearly show us is that the UK healthcare market is indeed changing.
“Where market effects brought about by the pandemic may have previously perceived to have resulted in a temporary spike in demand, what this level of growth tells us is that attitudes towards the protection of our health have to all intents and purposes been transformed by Covid.”
Jones added that over the last few years the firm had witnessed a new generation of consumer coming to the PMI market for the first time, with around 90% of its policies sold to those who had never had private healthcare before.
“It been great to see private medical insurers adapting and developing their product offering in response to a younger and more budget conscious consumer, which as it turns out is exactly what the market would come to require in 2020 and 2021,” he continued.
“This, combined with the arrival of the Covid pandemic, has brought a newer selection of accessible private healthcare products at a time when demand for them has arguably never been greater.”