Southern Cross Health Society has had a bumper year with 80% of new business coming in from corporate health schemes via its 1,400 brokers and advisers, and direct sales.
Its chief executive, Nick Astwick, said that over the past two years there has been a continued focus on employee health and wellbeing, with many companies taking out group health schemes with the insurer for their employees.
“We’re seeing a lot of SMEs stepping up to the plate, the latest growth is coming from companies with 300-400 people,” he said. “There has been a bit of a wake-up (call) on people’s health and how important their wellbeing is.”
“A lot of people see these as costs, whereas they should see them as investments,” he went on to say. “But people (employers) are starting to realise now, that health is an investment area.”
Astwick said the corporate channel was very important to the insurer, and now as large as its direct personal book.
“Half of our 860,000 members are paid for or subsidised by corporates,” he noted. “Our big wins this year have been from corporate - 80% of our volume is coming through on that corporate channel.”
According to Astwick, Southern Cross is shifting its market position from a health insurer to a health assurer – and that being part of a customer’s wellbeing and health journey, rather “than picking up the bill at the end,” was an important and deliberate move and one that advisers were positive about.
“A large amount of the adviser network knows they’re selling gold, we’re the best value,” he said. “Corporate is very, very important to us, and they want to have advisers (for this).
“The advisers know we’ve been around for a while, that we pay 90c (in the $1), we might not be the highest commission payer but we’re there to pay, our products are good.
“I am very confident to say we’re the best operator in the market, the best value proposition in the market. But where they’re (advisers) really excited, particularly when it comes to the new regulatory environment in giving advice, is how they move into helping corporates around the employee benefits of health.
“Wellbeing is a really good example of that. I’ve had really great chats with them (advisers) – it’s a lot better than advising people on different prices and products, they said ‘I can advise them on employee benefits and help with a richer territory, which is the wellbeing of people’s workforces.’
“We have had a lot of support from advisers – they want to sell outcomes not products. They want to help their customers become healthier and help build a healthier society.”
Astwick said Southern Cross had personally seen the benefit of wellness schemes and group insurance through its own employee programme that has a high staff uptake rate. He said by ensuring its staff were healthier and supported in their mental health and wellbeing the company had not only saved a lot of money, but importantly it had impacted positively on personal performance, productivity, retention and workplace culture.
“Southern Cross wants to be an indispensable partner in customers’ wellness and health care journeys – overtime we will become more of a healthcare company over a health insurer,” he added.
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