Lloyd’s of London offers to insure NHS for unexpected costs such as pandemic

theguardian.com:

The head of Lloyd’s of London has offered to strike a world-first deal with the UK government to help the NHS meet unexpected increases in costs triggered by major events such as another pandemic.

John Neal, who runs the world’s largest insurance market, where 76 firms operate, floated the possibility of providing bespoke insurance contracts to the struggling health service, as well as government cover for floods or droughts caused by the climate crisis, when he met the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, for the first time last month.

“One of the challenges the government has is around peak demand in the NHS relative to NHS budgets,” said the Lloyd’s of London’s chair, Bruce Carnegie-Brown.

“If we can provide an insurance solution that effectively funded the NHS if it breaches its capacity, or budget issues, then it would show the insurance industry responding in a positive way to something that was caused by an exogenous event,” he said. “Obviously things like a pandemic might cause very dramatic increases in demand on the NHS and its resources.”

Such a deal would be a world first for the UK, which unlike some other countries relies heavily on a public system where most healthcare costs are covered by the taxpayer.

However, wider concerns about the creeping privatisation of the NHS could be a stumbling block to a deal, particularly at a time when the government is in dispute with medical staff over pay.

Carnegie-Brown acknowledged that historically it had been difficult to get the government to partner with the private sector because of a “level of mistrust on both sides”. However, he highlighted some public-private partnerships, including for terrorism claims for large buildings in the UK.

A health deal could help to avoid unexpected