Making predictions is difficult – especially about the future, as physicist Niels Bohr famously remarked. But this has not deterred Health Insurance magazine from taking a brave punt at predicting how the private medical insurance industry (PMI) might look like in the distant year of 2050. That is more than 40 years hence, which leaves plenty of time for a host of groundbreaking policy innovations and breathtaking leaps in technology. Plus a few wrong turns along the way. We asked a selection of PMI industry futorologists to polish their crystal balls and deliver their predictions. People will be free to top up their healthcare account themselves and buy a superior level of service, says MacEwan: “Co-payment may even stretch into new areas, such as A&E and long-term care.”

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Two Kennedys are battling it out in Congress over mental health coverage. The House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Democrat from Rhode Island, that requires health insurers to cover mental illness treatments as they do physical ailments.
It also sponsors a competing bill in the Senate that gives insurance companies more flexibility. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, today released a state-by-state snapshot of mental health problems, alcohol abuse, substence dependency, and tobacco use in the United States. Some statistics: North Dakota scored lowest in the nation on percentage of citizens using illicit drugs, but it ranks the highest for underage alcohol use.

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With a private health insurance from Norwich Union, you can avoid NHS waiting lists and get the medical treatment at a location and time that is best for you. You can have the choice of being treated in one of their 300 private hospital facilities in the UK – with expert staff and comfortable rooms.

Norwich Union offers Health Solutions Core Cover package which has wide ranging cover for your healthcare needs including the substantial payments for people who opt for NHS treatment as well as other benefits. Policy holders can also use a variety of telephone and internet services such as an online symptom assessment system and a 24-hour GP helpline.

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