U.S. hospital operators and insurers are seeking to benefit from the privatization of healthcare in the United Kingdom, according to corporate presentations and transcripts of investor calls with U.S. healthcare executives analyzed by The Intercept.
The documents suggest that the U.S. healthcare industry has been building plans for a while to capitalize on the wave of privatization and outsourcing at National Health Services, the UK's national healthcare system that is currently public, according to the report.
Citing the new push toward privatization and patient demand, Franklin, Tenn-based Tenet Healthcare has described the U.K. as "an increasingly attractive market."
Executives from King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services said last year at a global healthcare conference that as the NHS pushes to "outsource more and more of those patients to the private sector," UHS is poised to benefit and "capture a lot of that."
Other healthcare giants have built a stake into the market run by NHS as well, including insurance giant UnitedHealth, which provides a range of management services to the NHS.
Privatization of the NHS has been a point of contention in the U.K. general election that takes place Dec. 12.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn claims his opponents, led by the Conservative Party's Boris Johnson, will continue to privatize the NHS, placing the health agency up for sale to "predatory interests based in the U.S.," according to the report.
Mr. Johnson denies the allegations and has said he won't sell the NHS.
Read the full report here.
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