KEY POINTS:
Southern Cross Medical Care Society today reported a surplus of $7.83 million in the year to June 30, down from $48.01 million the year before.
The medical insurer paid out 89.6 cent in every dollar of premiums collected, up from 85 cents last year.
The society has 834,967 members, up 9242 from last year. About 1.4 million New Zealanders have private health insurance. Southern Cross said 83 per cent of its new members came from employer schemes.
"As a not-for-profit, our focus is always on our customers, not shareholders," said chief executive Ian McPherson.
McPherson said the result was slightly under budget.
The medical insurer had premium income of $523.3m in the year ended 30 June 2008 and paid out $464.2m in claims.
Southern Cross said its claims amounted to 71 per cent of all claims paid out by medical insurers in the year to June 30, 2007.
Claims rose by $64.7m, or 16.2 per cent, during the financial year, while premium income rose by $32.4m, or 6.6 per cent.
Members over 60 years old accounted for 43 per cent of total claims.
The society has $413.5m of investments and said that some of the interest rates it got were lower than the market rate because it had placed money in longer term investments.
The society recorded a $14.7m writedown when it marked its portfolio to market but it expected this to reverse in the future.
Southern Cross is rated A plus by Standard & Poor's.
- NZPA
