Venus 2014 LAB - Health Insurance

helloimvenus.com/#venuslab

The attitudes of women towards health insurance

ABOUT THE SURVEY 1

MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 4

RESPONSIBILITY FOR PURCHASE RESEARCH 6

HOW WOMEN FEEL ABOUT THEIR INSURANCE FUND 8

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF FEMALES 10

CONTENTS

1

25–29 yrs6%

30–34 yrs18%

35–39 yrs22%40–44 yrs

24%

45–49 yrs14%

50–55 yrs16%

Hello I’m Venus commissioned a survey of women to determine their perceptions of Australian health insurers and the understanding that these organisations display towards the needs of women.

The survey was conducted online, between the 1st and 3rd of April, using the Pureprofile consumer research panel.

A total of 400 women between the ages of 25 and 55 years participated in the survey. The largest representations were aged 35–39 years (22%) and 40–44 years (24%).

ABOUT

THE SURVEY

helloimvenus.com/#venuslabn=400

2

4%In a relationship

91%Married or engaged

5%Living with partner

Note: No participants were located in the Northern Territory.

ACT 2%

NSW 33%

VIC 27%

QLD 16%

SA 9%

WA 10%

TAS 3%

The majority of respondents were located on the east coast of Australia — 33% from New South Wales, 27% from Victoria and 16% from Queensland.

In addition to these basic segmentation parameters, respondents were also asked their marital status, if they had children living at home and which health insurer they are with (results shown over page).

All of the 400 women surveyed have a child or children still living at home and a vast majority are married or engaged (91%).


ABOUT

THE SURVEY

3

Def

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HIF

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GM

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Bupa is the most dominant insurer, accounting for 26% of health insurance nominations. However, regional variations are noted for Queensland and Western Australia, where Medibank Private (who is considered the nation’s largest insurer) is by far the dominant brand, accounting for 50% and 43% of health insurance nominations respectively. Amongst the 40–44 year segment, Medibank Private is the most dominant insurer, accounting for 21%.

ABOUT

THE SURVEY


4

AGE

Overall 25-29 years

30-34 years

35-39 years

40-44 years

45-49 years

50-55 years

Australian Unity 2% 4% 3% 1% 2% 0% 5%

Medibank Private 21% 15% 28% 18% 21% 21% 19%

Bupa Australia 26% 31% 34% 21% 19% 29% 27%

NIB Health Funds 10% 8% 13% 8% 11% 13% 8%

HIF Australia 1% 0% 1% 2% 1% 0% 2%

AHM Health Insurance 4% 8% 7% 2% 2% 5% 3%

Other 36% 35% 14% 47% 43% 32% 35%

LOCATION (METRO & REGIONAL)

NSW Metro

NSW Regional

VIC Metro

VIC Regional

QLD Metro

QLD Regional

WA Metro

WA Regional

SA Metro

SA Regional ACT TAS

MetroTAS

RegionalNT

MetroNT

Regional

Australian Unity 3% 4% 1% 8% 2% 0% 0% 0% 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Medibank Private 17% 14% 23% 17% 34% 24% 21% 22% 15% 10% 11% 40% 100% 100% 0%

Bupa Australia 27% 21% 32% 21% 12% 24% 15% 11% 38% 60% 22% 20% 0% 0% 0%

NIB Health Funds 17% 29% 2% 13% 7% 14% 6% 0% 4% 0% 11% 10% 0% 0% 0%

HIF Australia 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 9% 0% 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

AHM Health Insurance 3% 4% 7% 4% 2% 5% 3% 0% 0% 10% 0% 10% 0% 0% 0%

Other 32% 29% 35% 38% 41% 33% 45% 67% 35% 20% 56% 20% 0% 0% 0%

Question: Who is your health insurance company?

Management summary

The current survey confirms the popular view that women are largely in charge when it comes to making purchase decisions. 60% of women claim to solely conduct research when in the market for health insurance. Only one-in-ten women abdicate the responsibility to their partner.

Bupa has the largest share of market, and its share is highest amongst 25–29 and 30–34 year olds at 31% and 34% respectively. Medibank Private has the second-highest share overall, with its highest share in the 40–44 year segment amongst Queensland and Western Australian women.


5

Overall, women’s attitudes towards their health insurance company are united. 58% of women reported having a positive disposition toward their fund.

However, the most-felt attitude strongly sits opposed to this overall sentiment. One-in-five women cited their displeasure with the premiums, they feel funds lack value for money and are too expensive. Sentiment from those who felt displeased with their fund varied from mild to outrage.

As part of the survey, women were asked to provide suggestions as to how their health insurance company could better meet their needs; 93% had some advice for their insurer.

Amongst the wide distribution of responses from the group of women, the key themes related to value, better customer services and communications, flexibility, tailored solutions and rewards. 34% cited that lower premiums and having more control over annual increases as the number one thing their insurer could do. In second place, 12% felt customer service could be faster, better, easier, more proactive.


Management summary

6

60% Yourself

10% Partner

31% Both

Across all age segments, women nominated themselves as being solely-responsible for doing the most research into health insurance providers.


Responsibility

for purchase research

7

AGE

Overall 25-29 years

30-34 years

35-39 years

40-44 years

45-49 years

50-55 years

Yourself 59% 65% 56% 62% 57% 57% 56%

Partner 10% 8% 8% 7% 15% 11% 10%

Both 31% 27% 35% 31% 28% 32% 34%

LOCATION (METRO & REGIONAL)

NSW Metro

NSW Regional

VIC Metro

VIC Regional

QLD Metro

QLD Regional

WA Metro

WA Regional

SA Metro

SA Regional ACT TAS

MetroTAS

RegionalNT

MetroNT

Regional

Yourself 63% 82% 46% 71% 56% 67% 45% 44% 62% 80% 56% 50% 0% 100% 0%

Partner 11% 4% 10% 0% 15% 14% 24% 11% 8% 0% 0% 10% 0% 0% 0%

Both 26% 14% 44% 29% 29% 19% 30% 44% 31% 20% 44% 40% 100% 0% 0%

Question: Who does the most research when making health insurance purchases?

Responsibility for purchase research

Interestingly, women in most regional areas are more likely than their metropolitan counterparts to take on the lion’s-share of the research when it comes to selecting an insurance company — with women in regional New South Wales being the most likely to conduct the majority of the research (82%), closely followed by women in South Australia (80%).

Amongst those who abdicate responsibility to their partner, one-in-six women aged 45–49 years are most likely to leave the majority of research to their partner. 24% of women in metropolitan Western Australia nominated their partner for conducting the most research.


8

58% Positive

32% Negative

10% Neutral/mixed

Women’s attitudes are relatively united in their feelings toward health funds. 58% of women reported having a positive disposition towards their health insurer; feelings of security, happiness and being covered ranked in the top four responses.


How women feel about

their insurance fund

9

The number one united feeling amongst women was that their fund was too expensive. One-in-five women cited their displeasure with the rate of premiums and the significant price-hikes in recent years.

Interestingly, one-in-ten women had ambivalent feelings towards their health insurance fund, suggesting an immediate opportunity for funds to influence positive engagement with female members.

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How women feel about

their insurance fund


10

Better ways of claiming 3%

Tailor my insurance to me — choice 8%

Better websites — more information 2%

Reward loyalty and offer discounts 4%

Plenty of notice of rate changes 2%

More branches/more staff/longer hours 3%

Lower premiums 34%

Advise on extras balances 2%

Cover more services 6%

More providers 1%

Pay out more/bigger rebates 5%

Improvements in customer services 12%

Provide useful information — link to providers/tips 2%

NA/not sure/nothing 7%

Suggestion for how to most efficiently use cover 1%

Regular targeted communication 2%

Make understanding a policy easier 8%

Most women had a suggestion about how their health insurance fund could improve, with 93% identifying an improvement.

Amongst the wide distribution of responses from the group of women, the key themes related to value, better customer services and communications, flexibility, tailored solutions and rewards.

Just over a third (34%) of women suggest that their health insurer should offer lower premiums with more realistic increases. This is not surprising given the steady increase in private health insurance premiums since 2010; an average 31.56% in total over 5 years.


Suggested improvements

to meet the needs of females

11

One-in-seven women felt the customer service of their health insurance company could be better. Ideas for improvement included:

Suggested improvements

to meet the needs of females

“ Communicate better options based on historical usage and stage of life”

“ Check your usage and cover, and provide cheaper options in an easy-to-understand fashion”

“ Notify me when my extras entitlements are available e.g. glasses”

“ Provide bonuses or discounts in premiums for loyalty”

Transparency was noted by 8% of women as being an area where improvement could be made — for example providing policies in simple terms, making it easier to understand what is and isn’t covered.

Equally, 8% of women felt that insurers would benefit from letting them select what was covered under their policy, and how their extras balance is distributed.

“ Providers should give a list of extras and let you choose what you want covered”


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of Hello I’m Venus and Pureprofile.

Data & Analytics

Venus 2014 LAB - Health Insurance