Australia's largest private health fund, Medibank Private, increased its membership by over 5,000 and the number of persons it covers by 8,834 in the September-December quarter last year, according to the latest government figures.
This was the fund's third consecutive quarterly increase since the Federal Government's Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) initiative was introduced in July 2000 and which saw Medibank Private increase its cover of Australians by around 1 million.
According to Medibank Private managing director, Mark Burrowes, the latest Private Health Insurance Administration Council (PHIAC) figures show that member stability is being achieved.
As at December 2001, Medibank Private has a total membership of 1.4 million with around 3 million persons covered by the fund.