The health insurance business is operated primarily in Austria (82% domestic and 18% international). As a result, the focus lies on risk management in Austria.
Health insurance is a loss insurance which is calculated under consideration of biometric risks and is operated in Austria “depending on the type of life insurance”. Terminations by the insurer are not possible except in the case of obligation violations by the insured. Premiums must therefore be calculated in such a way that the premiums are sufficient to cover the insurance benefits that generally increase with age, assuming probabilities that remain constant. The probabilities and cost structures can change frequently over time. For this reason, it is possible to adjust the premiums for health insurance as necessary to the changed bases of calculation.
When taking on risks, the existing risk of the individual is also evaluated. If it is established that an illness already exists for which the cost risk is expected to be higher than for the calculated portfolio, then either this illness is excluded from the policy, an adequate risk surcharge is demanded or the risk is not underwritten.
In health insurance, assurance cover (“ageing provision”) is built up through calculation according to the “type of life insurance” and reduced again in later years because this is used to finance an ever larger part of the benefits that increase with age.
The actuarial interest rate for this actuarial provision is a prudent 3%, so that the investment risk of health insurance in Austria is relatively low. If it were expected, for instance, that 3% could no longer be obtained in future, this fact would have to be taken into account for future benefits and included in the premium adjustment.
The operational risks are extensively determined by the IT architecture and by errors that can arise from the business processes (policy formulation, risk assessment and benefit calculation). These risks should be kept to a minimum by using risk management.
The legal risks arise primarily from the effects that changes to legislation have on the existing private health insurance business model. This includes, in particular, changes to the legal framework that make it harder or impossible to adapt to changed circumstances or that sharply reduce the income opportunities. Developments in this area will be observed by the insurance association, and an attempt will be made where necessary to react to negative developments from the perspective of the private health insurer.
The EU Directive on the equal treatment of men and women in insurance, which is implemented in Austria by the Insurance Amendment Act 2006 (VersRÄG 2006), was also taken into account in the calculation of premiums in the last quarter of 2007. As the differences between men and women can be proven, only the childbirth costs had to be shared between men and women; these costs were explicitly defined in the EU Directive and VersRÄG as an exception to the risk-based calculation. No negative effects have been observed on business results to date.
The risk of the health insurance business outside Austria is dominated primarily by Mannheimer Krankenversicherung (approx. € 123.7 million in annual premiums) as well as UNIQA Assicurazioni in Milan (approx. € 31.4 million in annual premiums). The remaining premiums (approx. € 23.8 million) are divided among multiple companies and are of only minor importance there. Life-long health insurance policies without termination options by the insurer rarely exist outside of Austria, meaning that the risk can be considered low for this reason as well.
The greatest risk for Mannheimer Krankenversicherung is a result of the legal situation in Germany. Due to the future inclusion of ageing provisions in some cases, there could be a danger that good risks might leave Mannheimer Krankenversicherung. However, it should be possible to avert the majority of this risk through rate adjustments.
