Do you Hoover or vacuum? If you find it hard to differentiate between the brand and the verb, chances are your Bupa and PMI are also in a pickle!
When it comes to private medical insurance, half of UK adults don’t know the difference between the insurance and the insurer, according to new ActiveQuote research, with around one in two Brits* using the healthcare giant as a term of reference for medical cover in general.
We also found that the majority of people believe the biggest reason PMI policies exist is to cover the cost of hospital treatment, with three quarters of UK adults claiming it as their number one policy inclusion.
PMI team leader Mark Todd said: “The fact is, there are many different forms of private healthcare available to consumers today, offering a huge variety of treatment not only to help with critical health conditions, but to support the overall health and emotional wellbeing of the policyholder too.
“The healthcare market is a vastly different environment to the one it was 20 or even 10 years ago, but these figures show most people still have a way to go in truly understanding the full range of insurance options available to support their own wellbeing, and that of their loved ones, today.
“As a highly respected and extremely well-known health care provider, Bupa itself has evolved over the years to provide a wide range of services which the majority of adults are most probably still unaware of, as the tendency to generalise with regards to PMI continues to prevail.”
Our survey also found that the second biggest treatment Brits associated with PMI was major surgery, with dental treatment following close behind. Just over 15% of adults had no idea what might be included in a typical health insurance policy, meanwhile, and a further six percent admitted they don’t even know what PMI is.
Most health insurance policies available on the market today cover a wide range of inpatient and outpatient treatments across a wide range of disciplines, from acupuncture and homeopathy to counselling, diagnostic testing and consultation services not always available on the NHS.
Mark added: “As an impartial health insurance comparison service designed to support the consumer in finding the right level of cover at a budget to suit them, ActiveQuote continues to raise awareness of the wide-ranging and highly affordable packages available on the market supporting individuals and families in a multitude of ways.”
To find out more about the many benefits of private medical insurance, read our guide - it will really surprise you! And if think you can’t get health insurance with a pre-existing condition, think again, as we work with a large pool of providers to find a policy to suit your circumstances.
*One Poll conducted a survey of 2,000 randomly selected UK adults in June 2018.
