The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) reports that medical aid funds paid out N$1.24 billion in claims during the first quarter of 2024.
According to the NAMFISA’s latest report, healthcare expenditure saw a 12% increase from the previous quarter, totalling N$1.1 billion, although it decreased by 2.5% year on year.
“A combination of members’ claims behaviour, pricing of healthcare services and products, and the availability of new benefits during the quarter under review resulted in the quarterly growth of the industry’s claims expenses,” the report noted.
Non-healthcare expenses amounted to N$138.9 million, marking a 2.8% decrease from the previous quarter and a 3.7% rise from the same period last year.
“Non-healthcare expenditure incurred by medical aid funds consists of administration costs, managed healthcare costs (fees for managing health benefits), operational expenditure, and net reinsurance expenditure,” said NAMFISA.
Administration costs remained the highest contributor to the total non-healthcare expenditure.
As of 31 March 2024, the industry held total assets of N$2.2 billion, an increase of 4.1% from the previous quarter and an increase of 8.6% on an annual basis.
“Compared with the reporting at 31 December 2023, the industry reported a higher investment balance as of 31 March 2024 as new investments were made with surplus cash available due to the industry’s higher contributions and lower non-healthcare expenses reported for the quarter under review,” said the Authority.
Meanwhile, the industry’s current liabilities decreased by 4.1% quarter-on-quarter and increased by 3.6% year-on-year to N$605 million, which was due primarily to lower accounts payable and rollover benefits.
However, the industry’s investment of N$1.9 billion as of 31 March 2024, was sufficient to settle these liabilities.
For the quarter in review, total contributions increased by 10.7% to N$1.5 billion and grew by 12.1% on an annual basis.
The quarterly increase in the contributions received was in alignment with the annual increments affected during the quarter under review.
“The average contribution income per beneficiary was N$6,999 for the quarter ended 31 March 2024, which is 10.8% more than the figure reported for the quarter ended 31 December 2023 and 9.4% higher than the figure reported for the quarter ended 31 March 2023,” said the report.
Furthermore, the average claims per beneficiary increased by 12.0% quarter-on-quarter and decreased by 4.8% year-on-year to N$5,944.
The total membership was relatively unchanged quarter-on-quarter and increased by 2.4% year on year to 215,701 beneficiaries as of March 31, 2024.
“The number of pensioner beneficiaries increased by 0.7% during the quarter under review and by 5.8% on an annual basis. The growth in the number of pensioners may indicate the ageing of current members rather than the enrolment of pensioners as new members, coupled with the stagnant growth rate of younger members,” said NAMFISA.
The Authority said that the absence of enrolment of sufficient younger members but the sustained annual increase in the number of pensioner members is expected to present higher claim risks for the industry.
