Sydney, Thursday November 17, 2021

Putting people before profit during a year in which health was at the forefront of the minds of all Australians has helped HCF record an annual policy growth of 5.3 per cent – 1.6 times higher than the industry rate.

While the pandemic continued to place economic strain on many industries, HCF, Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund, held strong with a 7.3 per cent growth in revenue in FY2021; and strong national growth with a market share increase to 11.6 per cent.
During 2020/2021 HCF paid $2.8 billion for members’ hospital and extras services, including 633,300 hospital admissions; 5.4 million medical services; 652,800 hospital services; and 10 million extras services.

The success of the past year also saw HCF merge with RT health, which has taken effect this month and is a move that not only delivers significant member benefits but also supports the long-term sustainability of the mutual health fund industry.

HCF’s industry-leading health and wellbeing programs helped 4,300 members find support with partnerships including mental health service PSYCH2U; family nutrition service Healthy Families for Life; diabetes telehealth program COACH; and online educational support program, Calm Kid Central, which helps children with emotional, social or life challenges to learn the skills they need to feel calm, confident and cooperative.

More than 2,000 members were able to seek support for their relationship with alcohol through HCF’s bespoke offering with Hello Sunday Morning; almost one in six lesions reviewed by a dermatologist were indetified as cancerous after members used the free MoleMap service at participating HCF branches; and 13,200 treatments like chemotherapy or complex wounds care were covered for members in the comfort of their home instead of going to hospital.

HCF Chief Executive Officer Sheena Jack said HCF was proud to deliver value and peace of mind for more than 1.75 million Australians.

“We’ve just experienced our highest retention rate in nine years,” Ms Jack said.

“Our success is not just measured by membership growth and retention though – it’s measured by how we successfully provide industry-leading health and wellbeing programs to help members live healthier lives.

“As a not-for-profit, our members can rest assured knowing every decision we make is for them. We are deeply committed to meeting our members’ needs and budgets better than anyone else,” Ms Jack said.

Throughout the pandemic HCF continued to show members uncommon care with greater flexibility in where and how care was delivered, including mental health support, telehealth services and hospital treatments at home.

“During the pandemic we supported people by providing $83 million in financial support, including a six month deferral of last year’s premium increase,” Ms Jack said.

Total support provided to members since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic has exceeded $150 million.

“Stepping up to support 70,000 members by continuing their health insurance coverage while they  were in a period of financial hardship was just one way of proving our unflinching commitment to  our members, because they are who we exist for.”

-ENDS-

Media enquiries to:
Rebecca Page,
0439130400,
rpage@hcf.com.au

ABOUT HCF
HCF, Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund protecting Australians since 1932, covers over 1.7 million members with health and life insurance, and travel and pet insurance. On average over the last five years, HCF has paid out more cents in every dollar in premiums to members as benefits than the industry average. To learn more about HCF go to hcf.com.au/about-us