HMO sector turns profitable

Healthcare benefits paid out by health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to its members amounted to PHP30.33bn ($536m) in the first half of 2024, which is a 15.65% increase from healthcare benefits paid out during the corresponding period last year, says the Insurance Commission (IC).

Still, even with the big increase in benefit payouts, the HMO industry returned to profitability, registering a total net income of PHP636.6m in the first half of this year, compared to the total net loss of PHP1.19bn in the corresponding period last year.

In the first quarter of 2024, HMOS reported a net profit of PHP6.8m, an improvement over the net loss of PHP319.0m in the corresponding quarter in 2023. For the full years of 2023 and 2022, HMOS posted net losses of PHP4,269.4m and PHP1,433.4m respectively.

The return to profitability of the HMO industry amidst the big increase in benefit payouts was brought about by higher total revenues by the industry, which amounted to PHP38.75bn in 1H2024. The bulk of this total revenue consists of membership fees collected by HMOs, which amounted to PhP36.56bn.

Source: asiainsurancereview.com