HBF has announced that its recently acquired Brisbane-based private health insurer CUA Health will return its remaining deferred claims fund to members.
HBF announced the acquisition of CUA with its almost 80,000 members in June.
In the early period of the pandemic, Australia's prudential regulator directed health insurers to make provision for claims deferred as a result of the temporary halt on elective surgery and other health services.
In March this year, HBF became one of the first private health insurers to announce the return of its unutilised COVID-19 deferred claims provision to members.
It has now announced that CUA Health will return $3.7 million of its deferred claims provision to over 41,000 policyholders via direct debit or cheque during December.
It said payments will range from $22 to $150 per policy depending on the cover held. The most common payments will be $75 (single with hospital and extras cover) and $150 (family with hospital and extras cover).
HBF CEO John Van Der Wielen said, “When we acquired CUA Health last month, one of the first orders of business was to prioritise the payment of COVID-19 savings for our new members.
“Early on in the pandemic we made a strong commitment that HBF would not profit from COVID-19 and it was important for us to extend this ethos to our CUA Health members.
“This is the right thing to do and aligns with our purpose of being there for all our members in the moments that matter, which is the value of being with HBF.”