News -
Office of Fair Trading Market Study Findings
We wanted to let you know that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today announced its provisional decision to refer the market for privately funded healthcare services to the Competition Commission.
The OFT’s provisional findings are:
- there is a lack of easily-comparable information available to patients, GPs or health insurance providers on the quality of private hospitals and consultants
- the full costs of treatment may not always be transparent for private patients
- there are only a limited number of significant private healthcare providers at a national level
The OFT will consult on the proposed market investigation and will decide by the end of March 2012 whether to make a referral to the Competition Commission.
A copy of the OFT’s press release and full report can be found here.
As you are aware, Bupa has been calling for more competition in the market for some time and we welcome the OFT's findings. It is good news for business and individual customers alike. It also validates the initiatives we have been undertaking to address many of the issues raised by the OFT, including our recent launch of Open Referrals, establishing contracts with consultants and our discussions with BMI and other hospital groups about securing better value for our members from 2012.
We have today issued this statement to the media. Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, managing director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing, said:
"For too long, the lack of competition among private hospitals and consultants in private practice has pushed the price of health insurance up to unsustainable levels."
"We have been saying for some time that we need more competition and efficiency among private hospitals and consultants in the UK and are pleased this has now been recognised by the OFT."
"We will be engaging with the OFT and, when appropriate, the Competition Commission, to ensure that their proposals help deliver better-value healthcare for our customers."
Topics
- Health Care, Health Service
Categories
- bupa
- office of fair trading