Ryall says he expects demand for healthcare will continue to grow but nib is aware its members face challenges.

The challenge for nib “is to meet those demands and excel, delivering value and better healthcare outcomes in everything we do,” he says.

The NZ company lifted its contribution to its Australian parent's underlying annual operating profit by 36.8% with chief executive Rob Henin declaring it to have been “a good year.”

The A$34.2 million underlying result from the NZ operations for the year ended June was boosted by the $4.7 million write-back of deferred acquisition costs , without which the result would've been up 7.7%.

The parent company reported a 42.8% rise in annual net profit to A$191.1 million.

Morgan Stanley analyst Sean Laaman notes the results beat expectations and questioned whether they show system growth in the face of pressure on household budgets.

“We think claims would need to surprise on the upside (lower probability) or system participation be lower (higher probability) for the full-year 2024 outlook not to remain robust,” Laaman says.

The NZ underwriting result was up 42% to NZ$36.1 million for the latest year from $25.4 million the previous year and included a $2.4 million contribution from the life and living business compared with just a two-month contribution the previous year of NZ$0.1 million.

Claims were up 18.5% in NZ dollars and up 13.9% to A$199.8 million.

Net premium revenue was up 15.9% to NZ$360.7 million and policyholder numbers were up 3.2% to 161,303 – they have grown from 110,121 in June 2019.

“It's been a good year again for the NZ business where we have increased the number of policy holders and maintained the value we offer nib members,” Henin says.

“Businesses that were affected by covid-19, which closed international borders and slowed access to healthcare across the country, are recovering. We've added a new business, OrbitProtect and our live and living business is performing well,” he says.

nib bought OrbitProtect in November last year for an undisclosed sum and it contributed NZ$1.1 million to pre-tax profit. It provides insurance for international students, workers, and other inbound travellers.