The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its latest quarterly private health insurance (PHI) statistics, covering the year to September 2022.
The report shows industry aggregate summaries of key financial and membership statistics for the Australian PHI industry, including areas of membership, coverage, benefits paid, medical gap, prostheses, and medical services.
For the year ended September 2022, the Australian PHI industry saw a 49.6% decrease in net profit after tax to $0.9 billion compared to the previous year – driven by a dramatic fall in investment income while insurance profits were flat.
By contrast, the industry's premium revenue during the same period increased by 2.4% through a combination of rising membership and premium increases, tempered by some insurers delaying premium increases to fulfil their commitments not to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic. Claims also increased by 2.8% from easing COVID-19-related restrictions and movements in insurers' deferred claims liabilities (DCL).
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APRA's report further revealed that the Australian PHI industry's investment income plummeted from $571.0 million in the year to September 2021 to -$359.5 million in the year to September 2022 due to the drop in fixed interest investments and the value of equities.
Focusing on membership, the report showed that hospital treatment membership increased by 2.2% (256,768 persons) in the year to September 2022, with the growth being broad-based:
APRA also recently released the latest statistics on private health insurers' operations covering the financial year 2021-22.
