The demand for private health care in the UK

Policy change has eroded the entitlement of UK residents to free state-provided health care, with a resulting rise in the use of the private sector. This paper examines the choice between public and private health care. It models the use of private health care as a function of its costs and benefits relative to state care and no care. The results indicate a difference between users of private care and other care, and the importance of past use as a predictor of current use. But they also show considerable movement between the public and private sectors, indicating a complex relationship in public and private sector use.