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UK: CC probe into Bupa poses major hurdle for medical group’s new management

By  |  August 9, 2013

The Competition Commission’s investigation into private medical group Bupa is reportedly posing a major hurdle for the group’s new management team following big buyouts earlier this year. Bupa welcomed its new chief executive Stuart Fletcher last March, who launched the group into a series of acquisitions and an overhaul that saw the company’s health insurance and clinics businesses split. Despite an increase in profits in the year’s first half, Bupa is also facing an investigation by the Commission regarding payouts on insurance claims. Reports say Fletcher confirmed the company’s profits were in part due to better claims cost management, meaning Bupa now pays less to members sick and injured. The executive defended the practice, noting that the Commission itself acknowledged that without Bupa and other insurers capping their payouts, “there would be very little constraints on the rising costs of premiums.” The Commission’s investigation is part of a broader probe into the UK’s five dominant private-sector hospital operators and their effect on market competition.

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