BUPA Ireland, then part of the wider BUPA group, entered the private medical insurance market in Ireland in 1997 ending the Vhi Healthcare monopoly which had existed for almost 40 years following the opening of the health insurance market in Ireland in 1994. In December 2006, BUPA Ireland announced that it would be leaving the Irish market as the High Court had left the Risk Equalisation scheme unchallenged. BUPA Ireland argued it could not afford to make a cash transfer to Vhi Healthcare as required under the Risk Equalisation Scheme. In February 2007 the QUINN group acquired BUPA Ireland and renamed it QUINN-healthcare.