Member News
By Lord Walton of Detchant - 15th November 2010
Lord Walton of Detchant writes for ePolitix.com ahead of his question on private medical insurance.
I am a firm supporter of the National Health Service, but nevertheless fully accept that when the NHS is under unremitting pressure, procedures and treatment carried out in the private sector can make a considerable contribution to healthcare in the United Kingdom.
In other words, I support the principle in appropriate circumstances of the public/private mix. Many individuals and families in the UK have purchased private health insurance, believing that this will allow them a choice of consultant and a choice of private hospital or a private bed within an NHS hospital in which they might wish to be treated.
The two principal insurance companies in the field are AXA PPP and BUPA, and in the recent past these two organisations have promulgated fixed fee schedules and restricted hospital and consultant networks. This has led to many complaints being lodged with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) by insured individuals and by consultants working in many branches of medicine.
AXA, for example, have applied differential reimbursement rates which have raised new issues of discriminatory benefits for both patients and consultants. Some patients, who persist in seeking the advice of a consultant of their choice, may now face shortfalls on fees for consultations and operations.
In addition, AXA has established new arrangements with the BMI group of hospitals under a corporate health plan pathway. These are likely to divert AXA policy holders for treatment through a limited number of consultants based at BMI hospitals. In June 2010 BUPA introduced its own fixed fee policy for young, newly-appointed consultants. It is now consulting on whether or not to impose this schedule upon existing, established consultants.
The view of the Federation of Independent Practitioner Organisations (FIPO) is that these new policies are creating considerable consumer detriment. This is through interfering in the clinical pathways which hitherto have allowed patients and the GPs ability to determine where they can most appropriately be referred for specialist treatment.
It is hoped that a forthcoming meeting between FIPO and the OFT may resolve many if not all of the concerns raised by consultants and insured individuals. It must surely be the case that an open and vigorous private sector, complementing the work of the National Health Service, is in the public interest.
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