The UK health insurance industry may have endured the worst of the recession after the country’s biggest private medical insurance provider announced stable figures for the first six months of 2010. As a provident association, Bupa makes a surplus rather than a profit, and was able to record a 5 per cent surplus in the six months from January to June.

 

Much of that surplus was fuelled by the company's international diversification strategy, with Bupa Asia and Bupa Australia performing particularly well, though it was the company's performance in the UK health insurance market that will be of interest to UK industry analysts. Amid fears that consumers would abandon their medical insurance policies in an effort to reduce their monthly outgoings, Bupa reported that membership numbers were down by only 0.8 per cent since the end of 2009, allowing industry leaders to breathe a sigh of relief.

 

With signs that the new coalition may envisage a greater role for the private healthcare industry, the industry will be hoping to be awarded big contracts to assist the National Health Service, while health insurance providers will be hoping that consumers opt to protect themselves against hospital budget cuts by taking out medical cover .