Press releases

Around one in seven Britons (15%) are willing to pay an extra £10,000 for a home in a good NHS catchment area, according to new research from Combined Insurance.

At a time when NHS hospitals have been criticised for not meeting key basic hygiene standards, Combined Insurance asked a representative sample of more than 2,000 adults if they were moving house tomorrow how much would they be willing to pay in order to live in a good NHS catchment area.

Of those that gave a figure:

• More than one in four people (27%) are happy to spend an extra £6,000 to live in a neighbourhood with good healthcare, and one in two (48%) are willing to spend an extra £3,000.

• Yorkshire tops the poll with almost one in four people (22%) willing to fork out an extra £10,000 or more to be in a good NHS catchment area. In contrast, Londoners are the least likely to splash out, with one in three not even willing to spend an extra £1,000 (35%). Here, the price of housing and the cost of living in the Capital seem to be taking their toll.

• Paying extra for a home in a good catchment area is common across all income and social groups – one in ten less affluent people (10%) say they would find £10,000 to live in a good NHS catchment area – despite this representing a significantly higher proportion of their income.

Nigel Brittle, Director at Combined Insurance commented: “This research suggests there is a clear demand for good local healthcare and people are willing to spend thousands of pounds to be in a good catchment area for treatment. As a leading community insurer, Combined Insurance is committed to ensuring that access to good healthcare doesn’t cost the earth.

“For example, Combined’s new Care for Cancer Plan offers a low cost, comprehensive range of benefits including cancer screening, cancer diagnosis and access to approved cancer drugs that are not available on the NHS for free”.

For more information please contact:

Andrew Cummine / Guy Bellamy
FD Consumer Dynamics
020 7269 7205 / 7265
andrew.cummine@fd.com

Notes to Editors:

• Since 1919, Combined Insurance (www.combinedinsurance.co.uk) has specialised in bringing affordable, quality insurance products to individuals and families - and currently provides supplemental disability, accident, health and life cover to over 3.5 million policyholders. Combined Insurance has never forgotten its roots and today operates face-to-face in local communities – just as it has done for the last 90 years.

Main features for Combined Care for Cancer Plan:

Cancer Screening Benefit
A benefit of either £25, £50 or £75 (depending on the level of cover) for NHS approved cancer screening tests to encourage regular screening which may result in early detection of cancers and improve the rate of recovery. You do not have to be ill in order to make a claim on this benefit.

Cancer Diagnosis Benefit
A benefit of either £10,000, £20,000 or £30,000 (depending on the level of cover) if you are diagnosed with a cancer meeting our definition. This benefit payment can therefore take away the many financial stresses that a long term treatment may involve. Our research showed two thirds of people said that receiving a cash sum pay out when diagnosed was a key element to any cover.

Approved Drugs Benefit
Benefits of up to either £5,000, £10,000 or £15,000 (depending on the level of cover) are paid for approved cancer drugs that are not available on the NHS for free. Our research showed that more than half of the people thought that assistance towards approved cancer drugs was very important to them (53%).