Insurance-Funded Private Health Admissions Hit Record in H1 2025 But Signs that PMI Claims Inflation Is Finally Cooling
- Written by: iPMI Global
PMI-funded private health admissions hit record high of 338,000 in H1 2025
Levelling off of recent rapid growth in insured treatment activity indicates that claims inflation may be cooling, alleviating upwards pressure on renewal premiums for businesses who fund healthcare benefits.
Insurance-funded private health admissions hit record highs in 2025 but there are signs that the rapid growth seen in recent years is slowing which could prove a welcome boost for employers looking to widen and improve their healthcare benefits.
The analysis of the latest PHIN data1 from Broadstone, a leading UK consultancy, shows that there were 338,000 admissions funded by Private Medical Insurance (PMI) in the first half of 2025.
This marks the highest ever level of admissions in the first half of a year due to a small increase from H1 2024 when 336,000 treatments were funded by PMI. However, these admissions have seen a sustained uptick and are up by nearly a fifth (17%) compared to before the pandemic when 290,000 PMI-funded admissions were registered in H1 2019.
In the meanwhile, NHS waiting lists have soared over the past five years rising from 4.24 million in March 2020 to 7.37 million as of June 2025. While numbers seem to have peaked at around 7.4 million, progress in reducing them has been limited and appears to have stalled in the short term as industrial action once again impacts the NHS recovery plan.
The slowdown in PMI-funded admissions over the past year suggests that claims inflation may now be cooling which will be good news for employers, according to Brett Hill, Head of Health & Protection at Broadstone.
He said: “The rapid and sustained growth in PMI-funded admissions since the pandemic is a clear signal of how dramatically healthcare demand has shifted. As the NHS continues to face significant strain, Private Medical Insurance has increasingly stepped in to bridge the gap – ensuring people can access timely diagnoses and treatment that would otherwise be delayed.
“PMI-funded health services are now critical to both the resilience of the nation’s healthcare system and the wellbeing of the workforce. It enables faster treatment of conditions before they become more complex, costly and time-consuming. This is why, alongside its contribution to the wider NHS, PMI represents one of the most valuable investments a business can make to keep their people healthy and productive.
“However, in recent years many employers have seen benefit costs increase, as a surge in claims by employees who cannot access NHS services has driven up premiums at renewal.
“While self-pay admissions have been plateauing for a while, this year’s slowdown in PMI-funded admissions is a welcome sign that claims inflation is beginning to cool. This should help to alleviate some of the upward premium pressure that employers have been feeling and allow them to refocus on expanding the provision of health benefits across their workforce.”
1 – PHIN Private market update: December 2025 United Kingdom: https://www.phin.org.uk/press-releases/phin-private-market-update-december-2025-uk
