Very few Britons refuse to take out health insurance because they do not trust the industry, new research has revealed. A survey by Swiss Re and Protection Review has shown that just eight per cent of consumers rejected health insurance because they did not have faith that a health insurance policy would payout.

Some seven per cent felt the same way about life insurance and shunned it through lack of trust. Figures show that the numbers of Britons who said their trust in insurers was "a little or a lot" was 72 per cent.

The revelations are likely to give confidence to the insurance industry which has been recently hit by stories where health insurance payout has been withheld in some cases.

Peter Le Beau, co-author of Protection Review, said: "People do actually trust us. That's not as surprising as you might think.

"We pay out millions of pounds in claims every year and, more than that, health and protection insurance makes a real, positive, difference to people's lives."