News: NHF UPDATE 1-Aussie health insurers NIB, Medibank defer premium rise as claims remain subdued

(Adds NIB Holdings, detail on premium rise deferral)

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Australian health insurers Medibank Private Ltd (MPL) and NIB Holdings (NHF) on Tuesday postponed their respective health insurance annual premium increases as claims continue to remain below expected levels.

The country's biggest health insurer Medibank deferred its 2.96% premium increase by a couple of months to June 1, while NIB's 2.72% premium rise was pushed to Sept. 1.

Medibank, which fell victim to a cyber attack in 2022, said it would return an additional A$59 million ($40.60 million) in COVID-19 permanent net claims savings to customers.

"While public health measures implemented during COVID-19 have eased, claims still remain below expected levels which is why we are continuing to return savings to our customers," said Milosh Milisavljevic, Medibank's customer portfolios group executive.

NIB in a separate statement said it "will assess the deferred premium increase before September to determine what's appropriate given claims experience", adding so far the claims environment has been "benign". ($1 = 1.4531 Australian dollars)