Australian health insurance group Medibank has reported full year revenues of $8.18 billion, up 5 per cent on the last financial year.

CEO David Koczkar said that despite a challenging year for the sector, the company’s discipline and resilience had delivered strong results.

The group recorded a 59.6 per cent jump to net profits after tax to $492.5 million, with underlying profit, which adjusts for movement in the COVID-19 equity reserve and normalisation of investment returns, up 14.1 per cent to $570.4 million.

Group operating profit, which excludes the impacts of COVID-19, was up 7.9 per cent to $699.8 million, reflecting an increase in Health Insurance operating profit (up 7.2 per cent), and strong growth in Medibank Health segment profit of 36.7% including the contribution of Mediabank’s increased investment in Myhealth.

“Our growth in health has taken a big step this year. We delivered more than 4 million health interactions through our multi-disciplinary primary care network, which incorporates Amplar Health and Myhealth services,” said Koczkar. “And we broadened our relationship with our customers, with almost half of Medibank policyholders now engaged with our health and wellbeing services.”

Medibank will pay a fully franked ordinary dividend of 9.4 cents per share on September 26, increasing its full year payout by 13.7 per cent to 16.6 cents.

Looking ahead, the company told investors it was anticipating moderating industry growth in FY2025 for its resident health insurance business and would remain focused on growing in line with the market, with an aim to increase market share in 2026. For the Medibank Health business, which includes GP clinic chain MyHealth and allied health services provider Amplar Health, Medibank is targeting upwards organic profit growth of 15 per cent or more between FY2024 and FY2026. The company also flagged plans to invest between $150 million and $250 million into the Health business through further mergers and acquisitions between FY2024 and FY2026.

“The challenges in healthcare are well known – waiting lists, ambulance ramping, delays to see a GP or specialist and a stretched workforce. These challenges are not specific to Australia. They are global trends, which are largely driven by changing demographics and more of us living with chronic conditions,” said Koczkar. “We are currently over reliant on treatment in more expensive acute hospitals, rather than in other more fit for purpose settings.”

He continued: “What we continue to think about is how we support the sustainability of hospitals in a way that doesn’t push up premiums, making private healthcare unaffordable for customers.”