The head of one of Europe’s biggest insurers, France’s Axa, has said that the deepening crisis facing the UK’s NHS will present “quite a few business opportunities”, as the financial group expands its private healthcare services.
Thomas Buberl, Axa’s chief executive, said in an interview that the group would invest to take advantage of the stress faced by the UK’s state-funded health service.
The company is a leading private medical insurer in the UK and is looking to extend its telemedicine business, where it provides an online conversation with a doctor as an alternative to waiting for a GP appointment, and support services for medical procedures.
Buberl highlighted the threats faced by the UK’s state-funded health service from inflation in medical costs, such as the price of drugs, coupled with a continuing staffing crisis.
“This puts, by definition, the system under strain,” he said, predicting that the demographic challenge would get worse, given that “you don’t have enough inflow into medical professions” to make up for those heading into retirement.
“With what is happening at the moment, probably the first choice of a doctor that is newly qualified, it would not be the NHS,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the capacity challenges for the NHS. As people struggle to get GP appointments and hospital treatment waiting lists hit record highs, private companies have made inroads.
Amanda Blanc, Aviva’s chief executive, said in May that private healthcare “needs to be seen as a positive complement to the NHS in clearly what are difficult times”, after it took on more than 120,000 new private medical customers in 12 months.
On Friday, the government announced 13 new “one-stop-shop” diagnostic centres, eight of them funded by private-sector capital. Private equity has bought into so-called “insourcing” firms which provide fill-in NHS staffing.
The problems facing the NHS were not short term, Buberl said. “If you look around [to see] where else could you get more staff, you will hit the topic around immigration, which as you know is a touchy topic,” he added.
Similar strains on labour and treatment costs were brewing elsewhere although less glaringly for now, including in the French state-backed healthcare system, he said. This is also likely to encourage a take-up of private coverage in other parts of Europe too, he added.
Axa pivoted in 2020 to focus more on healthcare insurance. The insurer’s half-year results on Friday showed that a rise in private medical claims in the UK had, however, weighed on the profitability of this business. This was offset by strong trading in property and casualty insurance, which helped the company generate €4.1bn in underlying earnings.
Axa also announced the acquisition of Laya Healthcare from AIG’s Corebridge Financial, a deal that should give it a number-two position in Ireland’s private health sector. Acquisitions in the UK would be “difficult” given its significant market share and so the company was focused more on organic growth, he added.
Buberl acknowledged that rising demand would also create a capacity challenge for his business. “Obviously, if there is more usage in the system, it also means that at some points that needs to be reflected in the price.”
And there you have it.
If this will not convince you to demand the resignation of your heath ministers and MPs. Then nothing will.
Be happy with your healthcare being held hostage by corporations in a for profit system.
Bloody private equity scum. We don’t need the UK becoming like USA
And there you have it… privatisation in a heartbeat. i don’t understand why all of us are not on the streets protesting in the masses to bring about real change and stop this rubbish happenin to our country, not just our nhs but the state of the country is in. It seems to me like unless your wealthy then its fuck everyone else? Private healthcare for the better off only. Sad times. No wonder mental health illness are on the increase
Private equity is not interested in your health, it is interested in making money for itself and its shareholders. The problems we have in the NHS are no more likely to be fixed by privatisation than other previously public owned enterprises like Water, transport etc were. Look to them to see what the future holds.
I posted this earlier in response to another post about the NHS. Sorry for the repost but I feel it’s relevant.
Experience with earlier privatisations shows us that what we will get with the Tories is a health service focussed on the bottom line, on maximising profit like all the other formerly nationalised industries. Run by venture capitalist and private equity firms its primary goal will be to make as much money as possible, not provide better outcomes for patients. Show me one privatised industry that performs better and is cheaper?
There is no evidence that private is better or cheaper than state run. There is however evidence that state run is cheaper and better. In the US, for example, private cost 17 times as much as Medicare to administer. The extra costs are not spent on patient care but on stock buybacks, marketing, dividends, $1m+ salaries to the heads of hospitals etc.
**House Oversight Committee hearing about Universal Health Coverage in America**
And if you needed further proof of the main reason behind the push for more of the NHS to be run privately look no further than the record rewards for those at the top of the health insurance business:
**Highest paid health insurance CEOs: Six CEOs raked in a record $123 million last year.**
State run/single payer is cheaper and better as it is focused on patient treatment, care and outcomes, not profit. Studies support this claim. Privatisation isn’t a panacea, rather another Tory unicorn to beguile the gullible.
AXA and it’s I’ll have been waiting in the wings for the NHS to fall for years . The only difference is they’re now saying it in public
Axa are horrible to deal with. Very hard to contact, slow to reply and often don’t reply and will try to waste your time and drag out any claim you make in the hope you get fed up and give up.
I refuse to take out any cover that is involving them after my experience with them.
This news is typical of the money grabbing soulless social vampires that are Axa.
7 comments
The head of one of Europe’s biggest insurers, France’s Axa, has said that the deepening crisis facing the UK’s NHS will present “quite a few business opportunities”, as the financial group expands its private healthcare services.
Thomas Buberl, Axa’s chief executive, said in an interview that the group would invest to take advantage of the stress faced by the UK’s state-funded health service.
The company is a leading private medical insurer in the UK and is looking to extend its telemedicine business, where it provides an online conversation with a doctor as an alternative to waiting for a GP appointment, and support services for medical procedures.
Buberl highlighted the threats faced by the UK’s state-funded health service from inflation in medical costs, such as the price of drugs, coupled with a continuing staffing crisis.
“This puts, by definition, the system under strain,” he said, predicting that the demographic challenge would get worse, given that “you don’t have enough inflow into medical professions” to make up for those heading into retirement.
“With what is happening at the moment, probably the first choice of a doctor that is newly qualified, it would not be the NHS,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the capacity challenges for the NHS. As people struggle to get GP appointments and hospital treatment waiting lists hit record highs, private companies have made inroads.
Amanda Blanc, Aviva’s chief executive, said in May that private healthcare “needs to be seen as a positive complement to the NHS in clearly what are difficult times”, after it took on more than 120,000 new private medical customers in 12 months.
On Friday, the government announced 13 new “one-stop-shop” diagnostic centres, eight of them funded by private-sector capital. Private equity has bought into so-called “insourcing” firms which provide fill-in NHS staffing.
The problems facing the NHS were not short term, Buberl said. “If you look around [to see] where else could you get more staff, you will hit the topic around immigration, which as you know is a touchy topic,” he added.
Similar strains on labour and treatment costs were brewing elsewhere although less glaringly for now, including in the French state-backed healthcare system, he said. This is also likely to encourage a take-up of private coverage in other parts of Europe too, he added.
Axa pivoted in 2020 to focus more on healthcare insurance. The insurer’s half-year results on Friday showed that a rise in private medical claims in the UK had, however, weighed on the profitability of this business. This was offset by strong trading in property and casualty insurance, which helped the company generate €4.1bn in underlying earnings.
Axa also announced the acquisition of Laya Healthcare from AIG’s Corebridge Financial, a deal that should give it a number-two position in Ireland’s private health sector. Acquisitions in the UK would be “difficult” given its significant market share and so the company was focused more on organic growth, he added.
Buberl acknowledged that rising demand would also create a capacity challenge for his business. “Obviously, if there is more usage in the system, it also means that at some points that needs to be reflected in the price.”
And there you have it.
If this will not convince you to demand the resignation of your heath ministers and MPs. Then nothing will.
Be happy with your healthcare being held hostage by corporations in a for profit system.
Bloody private equity scum. We don’t need the UK becoming like USA
And there you have it… privatisation in a heartbeat. i don’t understand why all of us are not on the streets protesting in the masses to bring about real change and stop this rubbish happenin to our country, not just our nhs but the state of the country is in. It seems to me like unless your wealthy then its fuck everyone else? Private healthcare for the better off only. Sad times. No wonder mental health illness are on the increase
Private equity is not interested in your health, it is interested in making money for itself and its shareholders. The problems we have in the NHS are no more likely to be fixed by privatisation than other previously public owned enterprises like Water, transport etc were. Look to them to see what the future holds.
I posted this earlier in response to another post about the NHS. Sorry for the repost but I feel it’s relevant.
Experience with earlier privatisations shows us that what we will get with the Tories is a health service focussed on the bottom line, on maximising profit like all the other formerly nationalised industries. Run by venture capitalist and private equity firms its primary goal will be to make as much money as possible, not provide better outcomes for patients. Show me one privatised industry that performs better and is cheaper?
There is no evidence that private is better or cheaper than state run. There is however evidence that state run is cheaper and better. In the US, for example, private cost 17 times as much as Medicare to administer. The extra costs are not spent on patient care but on stock buybacks, marketing, dividends, $1m+ salaries to the heads of hospitals etc.
**House Oversight Committee hearing about Universal Health Coverage in America**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l4YZSRTNGw (5 mins)
**Proof that Single Payer Saves Money and Cares for All of Us**
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/thanks-koch-brothers-proof-single-payer-saves-money/
And if you needed further proof of the main reason behind the push for more of the NHS to be run privately look no further than the record rewards for those at the top of the health insurance business:
**Highest paid health insurance CEOs: Six CEOs raked in a record $123 million last year.**
https://ceoworld.biz/2023/05/10/highest-paid-health-insurance-ceos-six-ceos-raked-in-a-record-123-million-last-year/
State run/single payer is cheaper and better as it is focused on patient treatment, care and outcomes, not profit. Studies support this claim. Privatisation isn’t a panacea, rather another Tory unicorn to beguile the gullible.
AXA and it’s I’ll have been waiting in the wings for the NHS to fall for years . The only difference is they’re now saying it in public
Axa are horrible to deal with. Very hard to contact, slow to reply and often don’t reply and will try to waste your time and drag out any claim you make in the hope you get fed up and give up.
I refuse to take out any cover that is involving them after my experience with them.
This news is typical of the money grabbing soulless social vampires that are Axa.