James to lead HIF

Former Bupa executive Justin James will lead Perth-based health insurer HIF, replacing long-serving chief executive Graeme Gibson.

Mr Gibson is retiring at the end of the July after leading the not-for-profit insurer for the past 15 years.

Mr James has joined HIF from Bupa where he was director of customer growth and risk & compliance.

Prior to joining Bupa, he worked in the financial services sector at National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ.

According to the State of the Health Funds Report 2019 published by the Ombudsman, HIF has the fifth largest market share in the state with 3.6 per cent.

WA insurer HBF has the largest market share (51.2 per cent), followed by Medibank (201.7 per cent), BUPA (11.8 per cent) and HCF (4.1 per cent).

Mr James said at a time when the private health insurance industry was facing a number of challenges, building member confidence was going to be his priority.

“I am conscious that there will be many areas that will need to be tackled to deliver better affordability for HIF members including digital services enhancing our relationships with stakeholders and continuing to lobby for broader reform including delayed prosthesis benefits, while also tackling areas of waste across and within the system,” Mr James said.

HIF chair Richard Homsany said he looked forward to Mr James leading HIF’s strategy.

“Justin comes to HIF with senior leadership knowledge and experience in private health insurance, making this key leadership transition a seamless effort,” Mr Homsany said.

He also thanked Mr Gibson for his contribution.

Mr Gibson said his decision to retire was made after consulting his family and the board, knowing that HIF was much more resilient than it was when he took the lead role in 2005.

“I wish to acknowledge and thank the thousands of loyal HIF members who I have served, and my HIF colleagues, for their immense support over 16 extremely enjoyable years,” Mr Gibson said.