Medibank Group has expanded its primary-care network to 169 GP and medical clinics across Australia, highlighting the insurer’s growing role in healthcare delivery beyond traditional private health cover.
The expansion comes as major Australian health funds increase their involvement in primary care, telehealth, and other healthcare services, raising questions for brokers about how an insurer’s provider footprint should factor into private health fund comparisons.
The 169-clinic count follows the $163.5 million acquisition of Better Medical – 61 clinics across Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania – which completed on December 16, 2025. It added to Amplar Health’s existing stake in MyHealth Medical Group’s clinics.
The annual report records 5.3 million patient interactions through Amplar Health in FY26, alongside a stated target of at least $200 million in Medibank Health segment profit and approximately $700 million in capital employed by FY30.
Chair Mike Wilkins AO and CEO David Koczkar said in their joint statement: “For 50 years, we have stood alongside people in Australia to help them choose the right care and access it when it matters most. Today, customers turn to us not only for health insurance, but for health and wellbeing support that makes a genuine difference in their lives.”
Medibank is the furthest along this path, but not the only one on it.
As of June 2026, Bupa operated 32 GP clinics and 13 Mindplace mental health clinics nationally. That month, it announced an agreement to acquire Partnered Health Group – subject to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Foreign Investment Review Board approval – which would add 68 primary care clinics and three urgent care centres, according to Bupa’s own announcement.
nib holds a majority stake in hub.health and offers members discounted GP telehealth. HCF offers free online GP appointments to some rural and remote members through partner GP2U.
Which fund a client is covered by now involves understanding that fund’s healthcare delivery footprint – not just its benefits schedule.
When an insurer owns the clinics, telehealth services, and hospital-at-home arrangements a policyholder uses, the fund’s value proposition changes. So does how a broker compares it with alternatives.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has raised concerns that GPs in insurer-owned clinics could face pressure to refer patients toward insurer-owned hospitals or preferred specialists. AMA vice president Julian Rait told ABC News in March 2026 that, while managed care was not yet widespread, “these are some disturbing signs” it was being adopted by private health insurers.
Private Healthcare Australia (PHA) CEO Rachel David rejected that framing. “The health funds are not trying to take over the whole health system. What they’re trying to do is to plug gaps in the health system that consumers are experiencing,” she told ABC News.
For brokers, the debate is itself relevant. Referral pathways, network depth, and the alignment of financial incentives within an integrated fund now belong in fund comparisons – alongside premium rates and benefit limits.
This structural shift is playing out against the highest industry-average premium increase since 2017. The federal government approved a 4.41% average rise from April 1, 2026, citing a 5% increase in medical and hospital service costs in the prior financial year, according to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Medibank’s own approved increase was 5.1%, above the industry average.
The annual report discloses more than $250 million in customer savings through Members’ Choice and no-gap networks, and $11.5 million invested in mental health initiatives in FY26, part of a five-year, $50 million commitment.
Across the sector, insurers paid out more than $26.7 billion in health, medical, and extras benefits in the 12 months to September 30, 2025. Hospital treatment benefits rose $1.2 billion to $20 billion – a 6% increase — according to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.
The report includes Medibank’s first Sustainability Report aligned to the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards. For brokers advising corporate clients where fund governance forms part of the selection criteria, the context matters: this is not a voluntary disclosure.
Under the Australian Accounting Standards Board’s phased mandatory framework, Group 1 entities – ASX-listed companies meeting two of three thresholds of $500 million consolidated revenue, $1 billion in gross assets, or 500 employees – must report for financial years commencing on or after January 1, 2025. Medibank, well above those thresholds, falls within Group 1. Its FY26 sustainability report is a compliance requirement.
Group 2 entities – those meeting two of three lower thresholds of $200 million revenue, $500 million assets, or 250 employees – began mandatory reporting from July 1, 2026. That deadline is now active for a significant portion of the corporate client base brokers advise.
Health Minister Mark Butler said in March 2026 that Australia has “a long standing and deliberate policy to prevent a two-tier system in general practice” and that any insurer move into GP services “would be a significant change to Medicare and is not being considered,” as reported by ABC News.
The AMA and Catholic Health Australia have called for a dedicated industry regulator – beyond the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the ACCC, and the Commonwealth Ombudsman – to oversee insurer activity in healthcare delivery.
If that position shifts in either direction, the structure of the funds brokers recommend could change within a single policy cycle. The direction of a major fund’s health services strategy is now as relevant to the advice conversation as its current pricing.
