Westfund Health Insurance (Westfund), one of the largest open health funds in Australia, has announced it will return $5.1 million to eligible members as part of an extension of its COVID-19 Community Support Package.
The community support package was designed to assist Westfund members' health and financial needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Westfund CEO Mark Genovese said the health fund wants to recognise the difficulties faced by its members for the past 18 months.
“We are fortunate to be in a strong financial position because of our members' continued support. It's only right that we now support our members through this very challenging time,” Genovese said.
Before the recent announcement, Westfund delayed premium increases for six months from April 01, 2020, to September 30, 2020 – saving its members $6 million.
The health fund also expanded its range of health and wellbeing programmes focusing on mental health and virtual telehealth consultations and supported more than 750 members via its COVID-19 Financial Hardship Suspension programme, totalling $700,000 in premium waivers.
Genovese said Westfund is still finalising the details of the new programme. However, he confirmed that around 52,000 members with a hospital or extras policy on September 01, 2021, will be eligible.
The payment will vary according to the level of cover for each membership, resulting in an average payment per policy of $98 and a maximum payment of $220. The health fund will pay eligible Westfund members towards the end of 2021.
“This will be the third time in eight years we've given money back to our members. That's the difference with Westfund,” Genovese said. “As a member-owned, not-for-profit health fund, we get to give more back to our members and not shareholders – whether that is by returning funds to members, increasing benefits that we know our members use, or expanding access to health services no matter where our members live.”
