The Australian government today issued the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report monitoring medical indemnity insurance premiums, Medical Indemnity Insurance - Second Monitoring Report - December 2004.
The report is the second in a series of three to be produced in response to the Prime Minister's announcement in October 2002 that the ACCC would monitor medical indemnity premiums to assess whether they are actuarially and commercially justified.*
The report shows that the premiums written in 2004-05 (2004 in the case of UMP) were considered to be actuarially justified for all five medical indemnity providers.
The ACCC also found that, in the current market environment, premiums set by all five providers were considered to be commercially justified.
"The ACCC's report shows that the medical indemnity industry is currently in a healthy and viable state, a significant change from two years ago when the largest medical indemnity insurer was in provisional liquidation", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said.
Copies of the report will be available on the ACCC's website.