A not-for-profit health insurer uses its revenue to:
In Australia, not-for-profit health insurers are mutual organisations rather than corporations.
Most not-for-profits claim to be focused on people rather than profits.
All of the restricted insurers are not-for-profit insurers.
In Australia, 25 private health insurers operate on a not-for-profit basis.
Insurer | Status | |
1. | ACA | Restricted |
2. | CBHS Health | Open |
3. | Defence Health | Restricted |
4. | Doctors Health | Restricted |
5. | Hunter Health Insurance (CDH) | Open |
6. | GMHBA | Open |
7. | HBF | Open |
8. | HCF | Open |
9. | HCi | Open |
10. | Health Partners | Open |
11. | HIF | Open |
12. | Latrobe Health Services | Open |
13. | Mildura Health Fund | Open |
14. | Navy Health | Restricted |
15. | Peoplecare | Open |
16. | Phoenix Health Fund | Open |
17. | Police Health | Restricted |
18. | Queensland Country Health Fund | Open |
19. | Reserve Bank Health Fund (RBHS) | Restricted |
20. | rt health | Open |
21. | see-u | Open |
22. | St.LukesHealth | Open |
23. | Teachers Health | Restricted |
24. | TUH | Restricted |
25. | Westfund | Open |
Most of these insurers are members of the Members Health Fund Alliance.
Not-for-profit insurers are not always cheaper than for-profit insurers even if their focus is on returning insurance premiums to members rather than profits to shareholders.
This is because prices are affected by:
Most not-for-profit insurers claim to reinvest any profits made into benefits for members, including:
Some of the benefits of joining a not-for-profit insurer are:
Not-for-profit health insurers have a few limitations:
The large number of not-for-profit health insurers is closely related to the history of private health insurance in Australia.
In the 19th century, government support for social welfare (including hospital and medical care) was extremely limited.
Private health insurance emerged when not-for-profit ‘self help’ financial organisations, friendly societies and mutuals set up hospital and medical funds. Members, often drawn from a workplace, profession or local community, made small weekly contributions to these funds in exchange for hospital treatment or doctor consultations. If a member needed medical or hospital care, these funds would help cover medical and hospital costs from their pool of funds.