Bupa (British United Provident Association) was established in 1947 when 17 British provident associations joined together to provide healthcare for the general public. Bupa originally offered private medical insurance, and followed this by expanding to include privately run Bupa hospitals. Since its formation, Bupa 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 and has a customer base of around 22 million customers in 190 countries.