What’s going on with private health insurance in Australia?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released quarterly private health insurance (PHI) statistics for the June 2023 quarter.

The report provides summaries of key aggregate financial and membership statistics for the Australian PHI industry.

For the year ending June 30, 2023, the Australian PHI industry saw a total of $2.2 billion net profit after tax, driven by a recovery in investment income to $702.4 million for the year resulting from increases in the value of equity portfolios and higher interest income.

During the same period, the industry’s premium revenue increased by 3.3% due to membership growth. Meanwhile, claims costs increased by 2.4% due to higher utilisation of services.

Membership

For the year ending June 30, 2023, hospital treatment membership rose by 2.3% (270,160 persons).

Membership in the 50+ age group increased by 2.2% (102,412 persons), while membership among younger people (insured persons aged 20 to 49) increased by 2.9% (120,966 persons).

See the rest of the key performance statistics on the APRA website.

Private health insurance reporting

This month, APRA started seeking industry feedback on proposed changes to PHI reporting standards in response to the following amendments to PHI legislation:

• Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Medical Device and Human Tissue Product List and Cost Recovery) Bill 2022;
• Private Health Insurance (Prostheses Application and Listing Fees) Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2022; and
• Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022.

The amended reporting standards are expected to apply to reporting periods ending on, or after, December 31, 2023.