NIB Health Funds
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | ASX: NHF |
| Industry | Insurance |
| Founded | 1952 |
| Founder | BHP Steelworks workers |
| Headquarters |
Newcastle, NSW, Australia |
|
Key people
|
Steve Crane (Chairman), Mark Fitzgibbon (CEO and Managing Director) |
| Products |
Health Insurance, Travel insurance, Life Insurance |
| Revenue | $1.5 Billion |
| Profit | $72.3 Million |
|
Number of employees
|
More than 800 |
| Website | www.nib.com.au |
NIB health funds (nib, formerly Newcastle Industrial Benefits) is one of Australia’s largest health insurers, providing health and medical cover to more than 1.1 million Australian and New Zealand residents. Established in 1952 by workers at the BHP Steelworks in Newcastle, the fund’s early membership centered on the NSW Hunter Region, before expanding operations in 1993 into Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and ACT.
In 2007, nib became the first private health insurance fund to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
A series of meetings of Eligible Policyholders and Company Members held in Newcastle on 19 July 2007 voted overwhelmingly in favour of demutualisation of the health fund. The Federal Court of Australia then approved the vote the following week with the demutualisation completed on 5 November 2007.
The share price opened at $AUD0.85.
In 2010, nib set about expanding the business globally, entering into the International Workers and International Students market.
To support this expansion, nib purchased IMAN International Pty Ltd, a specialist provider of health cover for temporary migrant workers in Australia for approximately $25 million.
The most significant acquisition in nib’s history occurred in November 2012, when the company purchased New Zealand health insurer, TOWER Medical Insurance Limited (TOWER Medical) , for approximately NZ$102 million (A$80 million). nib New Zealand is the country’s second largest health insurer, providing health and medical insurance to around 160,000 New Zealanders.
The Board of nib New Zealand is chaired by Alan Clarke, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Abano HealthCare.
Whitecoat is a free online search and comparison service that was developed and launched by nib in 2013.
Whitecoat provides contact details and ratings information for more than 210,000 Australian healthcare providers across 25 different provider types, including dentists, optometrists, and physiotherapists. Along with providing publicly-available contact details for different healthcare providers, the Whitecoat website carries ratings information regarding availability, listening skills, explanation of treatment and likelihood to recommend as well as comments from customers about their overall service experience.
In 2014, Whitecoat allowed reviews from the public for the first time. Reviews are now sourced from Whitecoat users as well as members of affiliated private health insurers who have been provided with a billable service from the provider. It hosts more than 250,000 customer reviews and while the platform now includes allied healthcare providers such as dentists, physiotherapists, and general practitioners, it is looking to expand to include medical specialists. The site has been likened to being the 'Trip Advisor' of the healthcare sector.
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Wikipedia