Background
Bupa (originally, the British United Provident Association) was established in 1947 when 17 British provident associations joined together to provide healthcare for the general public. The original services offered by Bupa included private medical insurance, and eventually expanded to include privately-run Bupa hospitals. Bupa had an initial registration of 38,000 when founded, but currently has over 11 million members worldwide, and is the largest private health insurance provider in the UK.
It was founded before the advent of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1947 as a provident organisation. Initially, it was purely a UK health insurance provider, offering policies to individuals, companies and other organisations. This continues to be a large part of the company and around 80 percent of the UK's FTSE 100 are customers.
Over the years,it has diversified away from its core health insurance business and is now an international healthcare company with services that include travel insurance, health insurance, care homes, health assessments, occupational health services and hospitals. The firm is a private company limited by guarantee; it has no shareholders, and any profits (after tax) are reinvested in the business.
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