Optum is a subsidiary of the American company UnitedHealth Group, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and mostly owned by institutional investors.
NHS spending on private or independent providers increased from £8.4 billion in 2013-14 to £13.8 billion in 2020-21. The UK spent a total of £125 billion on non-NHS providers since 2012-13.
Our NHS has been privatised in many different ways:
Read more about privatisation of the NHS and what we're doing to stop it here.
Read about some of the private companies involved below.
Optum is a subsidiary of the American company UnitedHealth Group, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and mostly owned by institutional investors.
According to the NHS Support Federation, Sciensus is a subsidiary of Halcyon Topco. Over 75% Halcyon’s shares are owned by Vitruvian Partners, a European private equity firm.
Centene Corporation is an American healthcare company based in Missouri and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
As of 2021, data company Palantir was 60% owned by individual investors and 24% by institutions. Founder Peter Thiel owns 7% of shares while CEO Alexander Karp owns 2%.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global accounting and consultancy firm, with a network of companies across the world.
Deloitte is one the world’s big four multinational accountancy/consultancy groups. It is a UK private company limited by guarantee.
Serco is a multinational outsourcing company that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its biggest shareholders are investment and asset management firms.
Capita is a multinational outsourcing business listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its major shareholders are mostly investment and asset management funds.