Updated: Aviva CEO Says Demand for Private Healthcare Rising on NHS Woes

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Aviva Plc said it is seeing increased demand for private health insurance because of the strains the National Health Service has experienced since the pandemic.

The UK insurer said Thursday that health insurance sales rose 14%. “We expect that to continue as people are looking for alternative options to the NHS,” Aviva’s Chief Executive Officer Amanda Blanc said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday, noting such a shift will relieve some of the pressure from the NHS. (Editor’s note: Bloomberg has corrected the healthcare sales figure in this paragraph from the original article).

The NHS has faced increasing pressure in recent months as healthcare workers have gone on strike over pay, crippling the service and piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to resolve disputes over pay for public-sector workers.

Aviva reported adjusted operating profit of £2.21 billion ($2.6 billion) for 2022, beating the average analyst estimate. The insurer announced a share buyback of £300 million and said it expects to pay a dividend of around £915 million for 2023.

Blanc, who became the insurer’s first female chief executive in July 2020, also addressed the sexism she’s encountered over the course of her career, which has worsened as she has risen through the ranks in finance.

“Things are not acceptable,” she said. “There is a period where you turn your head and say ‘OK, I’m going to ignore that,’ but today, it’s not acceptable to do that, so you have to call out bad behavior.”

Blanc said she hopes there won’t be a repeat of the firm’s annual shareholder meeting last year, where she endured a number of sexist and derogatory comments from shareholders.

Photograph: Medical staff transfer a patient along a corridor at The Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in Blackburn, UK. Photo credit: Hannah McKay/Reuters/Bloomberg