nib holdings, a private health insurer in Australia, is taking a steady run-up to launching its plans to expand its presence in a market dominated by Southern Cross.
The company has about 8% of the Australian market but has expanded to this side of the Tasman by buying Tower's health business for $102 million earlier this month.
Managing director Mark Fitzgibbon is confident it can expand Tower's 13% share of the New Zealand market, but said the company needs to first complete the acquisition, and establish its strategy.
nib has already identified where it can grow in New Zealand, including aggressively advertising to consumers directly, target Southern Cross's employee group business and renegotiating broker contracts.
Mr Fitzgibbon said that targetting people under 30 to encourage them to take up health insurance is likely to be a priority, by trying to get them interested in areas such as dental or optical insurance.
The health market in New Zealand dominated by health services funded by the taxpayer, but Mr Fitzgibbon said governments globally are realising it's not sustainable to support the health needs of an aging population.
Mr Fitzgibbon says the Australian government taxes people over a specified income level who don't have private health insurance, and the lifetime healthcare loading scheme is designed to encourage those under-30 to take out insurance or face higher premiums in later life.
