Bupa sees Europe and North America profits drop by 22%

The healthcare provider reported a £35m profit for the first six months this year, down on the £45m posted for the same period last year.

Revenues also edged down by 2% during the period to £1.436bn (H1 2011: £1.464bn).

It came despite group revenues recording a 5% increase to £4.118bn for the first six months this year (H1 2011: £3.929bn) and post-tax profits also growing by the same amount to £255.3m (H1 2011: £244.1m).

Last month, Bupa stirred up debate across the intermediary market by announcing it would pull back from the broker channel for individual private medical insurance (PMI).

Affordability crunch
And speaking about the UK's health insurance market, Bupa's chief executive, Stuart Fletcher, said: "In the UK, the health insurance market is approaching an affordability crunch over the medium term.

"In this context we are taking steps on behalf of customers to tackle the rising cost of care and improve competition and efficiency among providers."

Meanwhile, in light of Bupa's warning of an affordability crunch, fellow provider Passport2Health has urged the market to start thinking more "creatively" about their offering and how they cater to customer's needs.

Frank Levene, chief executive, said: "Household finances have come under pressure from the rising cost of living, while premiums have continued to soar.

"This has resulted in many people being priced out of the PMI market.

"The traditional PMI market does nothing to help this situation by offering little choice and high premiums."

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