Southern Cross pledges $50 million to members

The latest offering of support, which will see a credit based on a percentage of each policy’s premium applied as soon as possible, follows the health insurer’s early April announcement that members who had lost income can put their premium payments for policies on hold for between three and six months – during this time, they would not be able to make claims.

Commenting on the $50 million pledge, Nick Astwick, CEO of Southern Cross Health Society, said: “Southern Cross is essentially owned by its members and our top priority right now is being here for them and supporting them in the most practical way we can. In these difficult economic times and during a period of lower claiming, our pledge is to support our members and business customers. That means keeping money in the pockets of our members and in the interests of equity and fairness, no one will miss out.”

Astwick added that as a not-for-profit society with no shareholders or overseas owners, Southern Cross is in a ‘unique position’ to focus on making decisions in the ‘best interest of our membership’. “We’re constantly monitoring the situation and will continue to review our position regularly in terms of the ways we can help our members and business customers,” he said. “We are with them every step of the way.”