"We’re seeing a trend of customers with pre-existing conditions enquiring about PMI, only to struggle to cover those conditions."
- Kyle Godden, Managing Director at Clarity Health Insurance
Obtained via SEMrush, Clarity Health Insurance has revealed that 14,800 people now search for ‘private health insurance’ online every month, compared to 8,100 people in June 2021. Searches for ‘health insurance’ have also increased by 50%, rising by 6k.
Notably, searches for ‘how much is health insurance’ rose by 122%. The term ‘NHS waiting times’ also rose by 177%, which is unsurprising considering 9.7mn (21% of all adults in the UK) were waiting for a hospital appointment, test, or to begin medical treatment via the NHS as of April 2024.
“It highlights the huge problems for businesses when it comes to supporting the health of their employees and reducing sickness absence – an increasingly important C-suite issue,” explained Brett Hill, Head of Health & Protection at Broadstone.
READ MORE: 21% of all adults in the UK are waiting for medical care
With historical data showing interest in private healthcare has been steadily increasing over the last decade, Clarity Health Insurance believes this is more than a passing trend, especially after the recent spike in self-funded private hospital admissions. According to the latest data from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), there were 898k admissions to UK private hospitals in 2023 – this is 7% higher than in 2022.
“The crisis in the UK’s public healthcare system drove surging private admissions in 2023, yet another indicator of the parlous state of our NHS. Self-funded admissions hit a record year despite the Cost-of-Living Crisis, demonstrating the value patients are placing on their health & wellbeing in difficult economic times,” Brett observed.
READ MORE: Self-funded private hospital admissions spike in 2023
Kyle Godden, Managing Director at Clarity Health Insurance, explained “With the pressures on the NHS, it’s no surprise that more consumers are considering private healthcare and we’ve seen a steady rise in demand for Private Medical Insurance (PMI) over the last three years to mirror this trend.”
He said: “We’re seeing a trend of customers with pre-existing conditions enquiring about PMI, only to struggle to cover those conditions. As demand for PMI grows, particularly amongst newer groups in society, more must be done to educate people about how policies work – advisers play a crucial role in helping them navigate the complex market.”
In response to these findings, Dan Sharpe-Szunko, Founder & Director of iaminsured.co.uk, raised concerns about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and whether Google should be regulated to reduce misinformation about protection products.
“It seems almost unthinkable that we rely on algorithms to regulate platforms like Google. But do we ask enough questions about the quality of information provided to us? This is an ongoing concern for advisers, with websites becoming a crucial component for building trust amongst new and existing customers,” he said.
“Most of the content published about Financial Services isn’t written by advisers.”
Dan believes that Google does a “good job of providing us with answers to major questions about personal finance & protection, but it’s far from perfect and the information isn’t always relevant.” He highlighted that advisers often complain about consumers in the UK being served with US websites.
“It’s almost a full-time job keeping up with Google and new algorithm changes used to downgrade any websites facilitating bad or illegal practices.”
“Most of the leading brands in Financial Services have employed people to manage and maintain websites, making sure these pages rank for keywords. However, we’ve noticed that it isn’t always the most relevant websites that appear at the top of searches. Google optimises authorities, such as insurance provider or aggregator websites, above most broker websites,” he continued.
“We’ve seen a major swing towards more authoritative websites which aren’t always providing the best or most factual information.”
Dan highlighted that industry watchdogs have already had to confront unregulated companies paying for clicks and adverts on Google Ads. “Does this go far enough to managing the problem and what are we doing about the other 80% of the issue i.e. organic search?” he concluded.
