nib suspends premium increase for second time this year

nib Health Insurance has announced it is deferring premium increases for a second time this year, bringing its premium postponement to seven months.   

In further support of members affected by COVID-19, nib will postpone raising health insurance premiums for its Australian Residents Health Insurance members for an additional two months until November 01.

Earlier this year, nib postponed an approved premium increase of circa 2.66% – the insurer’s lowest in two decades – from April 1. Managing director Mark Fitzgibbon said nib fully appreciated the difficulties many of its members encountered in accessing hospital and other healthcare treatment throughout the pandemic.

“In some cases, treatment will no longer occur but in others it has simply been deferred until a later time. So, while nib’s claims experience throughout the pandemic has been lower than what would otherwise have been the case, inevitably there will be a catchup. This likelihood is reflected in nib’s balance sheet provision for deferred claims,” Fitzgibbon said, adding that estimating the group’s actual savings remained challenging due to how much treatment had been lost versus simply deferred.

“Since the pandemic, [nib has] been proactively returning savings back to members in a variety of ways,” he said. These include premium increase deferrals, premium credits, expanded cover for COVID-19-related treatment, and additional benefits at no additional cost.

The seven-month premium postponement will see roughly $40 million in savings returned to members and will be recognised in nib’s operating earnings for the 12 months to June 30. nib’s COVID-19 support package for members and travellers now totals almost $100 million.