The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its quarterly private health insurance (PHI) publications for the December 2022 quarter.
The publications provide industry aggregate summaries of key financial and membership statistics for the private health insurance industry.
The industry reported a decrease in net profit after tax for the year ended 31 December 2022 (down 33.6 per cent to $1.2 billion) compared to the previous year. This decline was driven by a large fall in investment income throughout the year.
Premium revenue in the year ended 31 December 2022 increased by 1.8 per cent through a combination of rising membership and premium increases. These increases were tempered by some insurers delaying premium increases in order to fulfil their commitments not to profit from COVID-19. Claims costs increased over the period by 1.6 per cent, largely due to the easing of COVID-19 related restrictions in private hospitals throughout the year. Gross margins remained stable compared to the prior year whereas net margins fell over this period.
Investment income fell from $448.6 million in the year to December 2021 to -$207.1 million in the year to December 2022, driven by falls in values of interest bearing investments and equities.
Hospital treatment membership increased by 2.2 per cent or 250,311 persons during the year to December 2022. The growth in membership was broad-based, with membership in the 50+ age group increasing by 2.4 per cent or 111,906 persons and membership among the younger population (insured persons aged 20 to 49) increasing by 2.2 per cent or 92,799 persons.
Key performance metrics for the industry in the year ended:
December 2021 | December 2022 | Change (annual) | |
Premium revenue | $26.4 bn | $26.9 bn | 1.8% |
Fund benefits (claims) | $21.9 bn | $22.2 bn | 1.6% |
Gross margin | 17.2% | 17.3% | +0.1pp |
Net margin | 7.7% | 7.1% | -0.6pp |
Net investment income | $448.6 m | -$207.1 m | – |
Net profit after tax | $1.8 bn | $1.2 bn | -33.6% |
Copies of the December 2022 quarterly publications are available on APRA’s website at: .
