Can budget plans make private healthcare affordable?

Health insurance allows you to bypass NHS queues to be treated in a top hospital at a time of your choosing. 

The problem is that this cover is expensive and fewer can afford it since the Labour Party axed tax relief on premiums almost two decades ago. 

From today it will become even more expensive when George Osborne’s insurance premium tax (IPT) hike comes into force. 

This will increase the Chancellor’s take from 6 per cent to 9.5 per cent on all insurance premiums, which typically will add another £40 a year to the cost of private health cover, something that will affect three million people. 

Insurers are fighting back by launching budget health plans in a bid to persuade ordinary people to buy cover. 

So, can you still afford to go private? Claire Ginnelly, managing director of health insurance broker Premier Choice Group, says people love the idea of private healthcare but fear it is too expensive for them. 

Read the rest here...