Health Insurance To Fund $1 Billion In Healthcare

Health Insurance To Fund $1 Billion In Healthcare By 2012: HFANZ

The Health Funds Association (HFANZ) predicts continued growth in claims paid will see health insurance funding a billion dollars worth of health care each year by the end of 2012.

HFANZ executive director Roger Styles made the claim today in releasing industry figures for the March 2010 quarter, saying recent and projected growth highlighted the important contribution health insurance was making to health funding in New Zealand.

Both premium income and claims costs rose for the March year, he said. Premium income was up 4.9 percent on the March 2009 year to $879 million, while claims costs for the year were up on the March 2009 year by 9.3 percent at $779 million.

Despite premium and claims growth, the level of health insurance coverage eased slightly in the March quarter with a drop of 2700 lives covered. Mr Styles said the drop took numbers back to where they were in June 2008.

He noted a concern with the slight drop in coverage for the 270,000 people aged 55-69, the first drop for this age group the industry had recorded since 2003.

“This age group had been growing at over 2 percent a year as the baby boomers edge closer to retirement. The future contribution of health insurance to total health spending depends a good deal on how many people in this age group retain health cover in retirement,” he said.
“Affordability has been a major concern, especially as higher claims costs have driven up premiums for older New Zealanders.

“Consequently, the response, seen by the industry, has been customers moving from comprehensive to elective surgical cover, and choosing more excess options enabling premium reductions. Further progress now depends largely on the policy environment, with mounting support for some form of targeted rebate to bolster coverage for those aged over 65,” Mr Styles said.

ENDS

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