This paper presents the results of a detailed survey designed to explore the factors associated with purchase of private health insurance in England. The survey, a nationally representative survey of the population of England aged 25 to 70, was carried out in the first 4 months of 1987. The...

The length of waiting lists for treatment in the British National Health Service is an issue of current political and economic concern. This paper presents estimates of the costs to consumers of waiting lists for non-urgent medical care. The estimates are derived from data collected using...

The demand for private health insurance in the UK has risen rapidly in the last decade. The paper discusses the nature of the demand for private health insurance in a health care market dominated by a public supplier, in which the consumer may neither opt out of his contribution to the National...

There has been little economic analysis of the private health care industry in Britain and as a result much of the policy debate about its role has been ill-informed and based on rhetoric. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the market for private health care and the demand for private...

This paper presents evidence on the extent to which the finance and the delivery of health care in Britain are equitable. The analysis of health care delivery focuses on whether there is ‘equal treatment for equal need’ irrespective of income. Examination of data from the 1985 General...

Recent and planned policy changes in the NHS, including the abolition of the Medical Practices Committee, revised tendering arrangements for new practices, readily available information on practices via NHS Choices, and letting patients register with any practice, will increase potential...