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By Alexandra Slimming – Head of Global Benefits
Shabab Maqsud – Head of Client Service – Global Benefits
We are continuing to see strong investment from organisations into the health and wellbeing of their employees, with private health insurance forming part of the core benefits offering. As life returns to ‘living with Covid’ normality in Australia, employees are maximising the value of their health insurance by catching up on treatments and procedures previously deferred due to the pandemic. Employees are now also accessing more preventative services such as dental, physiotherapy, and chiropractic care. At Honan, we have taken this opportunity to partner with our clients to not only provide a strong portfolio of EB ‘products’ to their employees, but education and awareness around the health insurance benefits on offer.
We are seeing relatively low rate increases for private health insurance in Australia as part of the 1 April 2022 rate review.
The average rate increase is currently between 2-3%, which is well below previous years, and several key providers such as Bupa, Medibank, and GU Health have stated their intention to either delay any increases to rates or extend only slight increases as part of this year’s reviews. A key reason for low rate increases this year is the widespread cancellation/delay of elective surgeries during Covid’s peak. In addition, lockdowns and Covid-related concerns meant members were not utilising their extras cover for treatments (e.g., dental, vision, and physiotherapy) at pre-pandemic levels. This resulted in increased profits for health providers who are now passing some of these savings back to consumers.
In an effort to offer more support and flexibility to working parents, many organisations are currently reviewing their parental leave policies. In parallel, the Australian Government has announced a revamped government-subsidised parental leave scheme as part of its March 2022 Federal Budget. Currently, Paid Parental Leave includes 18 weeks of leave, and 2 weeks for the Dad & Partner Pay Scheme, paid at the national minimum wage. To qualify, individuals must earn less than $151,350 per year.
Under the proposed new scheme, a combined total of 20 weeks of paid parental leave will be available to parents; offering more flexibility by enabling both parents to take up Government-subsidised parental leave. The income test is also being broadened from $151,350 per individual, to $350,000 combined household income – meaning more Australians will be eligible for the Government-paid parental leave.
Global Insurance Trends: Insights from the 66th WBN Conference
