For many workers, the prospect of having private healthcare remains nothing more than a pipe-dream, like a new kitchen or a holiday home in Tuscany.

While millions would like to put their days of NHS treatment behind them, either they simply never get round to looking into taking out a health insurance policy that would see them receive private treatment should they fall ill, or they feel they cannot afford to do so.

Fortunately for growing numbers of workers across the UK, the matter is being taken out of their hands as employers look to take out health insurance on behalf of their workers.

According to the latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) the number of people within the UK who are covered by Private Medical Insurance (PMI) has broken the six million mark for the first time.

Furthermore, in addition to those covered by either personal or corporate PMI, a further 1.13 million are covered by Healthcare Trust arrangements.

Commenting on this boom within the sector, Jonathan French, spokesperson for the ABI, said: "Increasingly employers are seeing the benefits of buying medical insurance packages for their staff because it's obviously good for the individual if they can recover and get back to work more quickly, and it's also highly beneficial for the employer to get their employee back to work more quickly.

"There's also the argument [that] in an increasingly competitive labour market, employers are using add-ons, like offering private medical insurance to ensure that they can recruit and retain the best quality staff."

At the same time, the soaring interest in private insurance has also been widely attributed to growing concerns among the public of issues such as hospital super-bugs such as MSSR.

Not surprisingly, due to their smaller size, private hospitals are seen as being better able to fight such problems, while issues such as smaller waiting lists have also been a major factor behind people choosing to go private.

Significantly, this increase in interest has served to make the private medical insurance market even more competitive over recent years, much to the benefit of consumers.

No longer are health policies the preserve of the rich, but instead they are becoming steadily more mainstream and, amid a backdrop of media headlines about a failing NHS and dirty hospitals, are being seen by many industry observers as being just as important as home contents or travel insurance products.