50% saw health cover costs soar after opt-outs

More than half of people with health insurance claim their premiums have "skyrocketed" due to the exodus of 300,000 policy holders from the market since 2008.

A survey by consumer network One Big Switch found that 99% of its more than 15,000 members have felt “significant negative impacts” due to hundreds of thousands of people exiting the health insurance market since its peak in 2008.

Eight out of 10 of those who have never bought health insurance said the reason they had not done so was because it is too expensive.