of australia ltd type public company limited by guarantee 1 industry private health insurance founded 1932 headquarters sydney australia key people shaun larkin managing director sheena jack cfo david watson technical manager products private health insurance travel insurance life insurance pet insurance revenue a 1.583 billion 2010 2 operating income a 1.526 billion 2010 2 net income a 109.656 million 2010 2 number of employees 1 179 2010 3 subsidiaries hcf life manchester unity website www.hcf.com.au www.manchesterunity.com.au www.hcfeye.com.au hcf the hospitals contribution fund of australia was formed in 1932 to provide health insurance cover to australians . since then it has grown to become one of the country s largest combined registered private health fund and life insurance organisations . hcf is the 3rd largest health insurance company by market share 10.3 % in fy2010 and is the largest not for profit health fund in australia . 2 hcf provides private health insurance cover for a full range of health cover including pet insurance travel insurance and life insurance . contents 1 history 1.1 the early years 1932 1942 1.2 the war years and beyond 1942 1952 1.3 the years of commonwealth support 1952 1962 1.4 the growing years 1962 1972 1.5 the expanding years 1972 1982 1.6 the challenging years 1982 1992 1.7 the changing years 1992 2002 1.8 2002 and beyond 2 social responsibility 3 references 4 external links history edit hcf s first ever advertisement on wednesday 22 june 1932 on the sydney morning herald . 4 in 1893 the hospitals saturday fund of nsw hsf was established 5 by frank grimley 6 to serve this purpose . money was raised by conducting a one day a year drive to collect funds from the public and from businesses . these collections were then distributed among participating hospitals . in 1900 hsf introduced individual subscription hospital insurance where contributors and their families paid a regular weekly sum to the fund . the early years 1932 1942 edit in 1932 following negotiations between the hospital saturday fund hsf and a newly created hospital commission of new south wales a new fund was created to better serve the community . the new fund called the metropolitan hospitals contribution fund mhcf was launched on thursday 16 june 1932 with the lord mayor ald . s. walder presiding . 7 8 the fund s first office was established on the first floor of adyar house later the savoy building and now demolished in bligh street . 4 at the end of the first two years of operations it had enrolled more than 100 000 contributors drawn from 3 290 employment groups and some 5 000 honorary agents although its area of operations was confined to about 50 square miles 100 km2 around the city of sydney . contributions were 6d . a week family and 3d . a week single . benefits paid for hospitalisation in participating hospitals were 2 9 per week . 9 further rapid growth in the fund s business led to a need for more accommodation and in december 1934 the fund removed to offices on the fourth floor of the new asbestos house in york street sydney . by 30 june 1935 the fund had 156 230 contributors on record . 10 the opening of additional offices on the ground floor of the same building in 1937 set the pattern for hcf s contributor services offices . hcf s first office was established in adyar house in bligh street sydney which later became the savoy building . the catton building in liverpool street sydney was purchased by hcf who then took up residence in 1953 . in 1941 hcf moved to its first home of its own in hamilton street . this building duly named mhcf house has now long since been demolished to make way for yet another high rise development in sydney s booming commercial area . the purchase of its own offices was a forerunner to the conclusion of the fund s first decade of operations during which the original staff of 10 increased to 75 and annual revenue had grown from 31 757 at 30 june 1933 11 to 364 180 at 30 june 1942 . 12 the war years and beyond 1942 1952 edit the 1942 52 decade of the fund s development began at the height of the world war ii . during these years mhcf house was never left unattended day or night in compliance with national emergency services regulations . an air raid shelter was built in the basement and the entire male staff of 24 was formed into a voluntary patrol to protect the building . on the night of 7 june 1942 when japanese submarines shelled sydney a contributor in bellevue hill was struck by a shell fragment and admitted to st vincent s hospital . in due course a claim no . h711683 was paid in respect of this injury . 13 despite many difficulties of the world war ii years including the severe drain on manpower resources and the cessation of many employment groups the fund s revenues continued to grow indicating the high value now placed by the community on an equitable and efficient hospital insurance system . by 30 june 1945 it had an income of 440 000 . 11 in 1945 the fund extended its area of operations to cover the whole of new south wales . in 1946 due approval was obtained from the state government and the name of the fund was changed to the hospitals contribution fund of nsw . a scheme for a medical benefits fund to provide insurance against the costs of medical services had been envisaged by then mhcf and members of the medical profession in 1939 but had been deferred because of the war . however in 1947 under the sponsorship of the medical profession the medical benefits fund of australia mbf was formed the well established hcf accepted its invitation to be managing agents for the new fund . 14 15 by early 1947 hcf s annual income was well past the 500 000 mark and its cover extended to more than 1 250 000 people in nsw . to accommodate continued rapid growth hcf purchased the catton building at 199 liverpool street in january 1950 . 16 meanwhile in 1952 income had risen to 671 633 a twenty fold increase in 20 years and grants to public hospitals and medical charities exceeded 100 000 for the year . 17 the years of commonwealth support 1952 1962 edit the introduction of the national health scheme by the commonwealth minister for health sir earle page in 1952 marked the beginning of a new era for health insurance in australia . previously conducted on a private basis voluntary health insurance funds were now required to be registered under the national health act in order to pay the additional benefits now provided by the commonwealth . 18 hcf decided to seek registration under the act which was duly granted and the fund s total disbursements of the commonwealth hospital benefit of 4 a day 19 20 from 1 january 1952 the start of the scheme to 30 june 1952 amount to 34 073 . in 1953 following increases in hospital charges 21 the hcf family contribution rate was raised to 3 a week which provided for a weekly hospital benefits of 12 12 and the age limit on membership was abolished . in 1957 at the end of 25 years operations hcf celebrated its silver anniversary with benefit payments for the year amounting to 3 170 408 . by 1962 after 30 years of community service total benefits paid were 9 202 720 . 22 a victorian tram with hcf s ad in 1969 just before it closing its business in victoria in 1970 as a result of introducing national health act 1970 by the commonwealth government . the growing years 1962 1972 edit the commencement of hcf s fourth decade saw a major expansion of the fund s activities . the decision was taken to end the joint management arrangements with the mbf which had begun in 1960 23 24 when hcf staff had moved to the mbf premises in george street . as a consequence of increased competition the fund extended its operations to include medical benefits after the government approval . 25 on 1 november 1963 hcf resumed independent operations from 199 liverpool street and launched its combined medical and hospital benefits plan . in 1964 hcf upgraded its administrative procedures by installation of its own computer and introduced electronic data processing as an integral part of its operations . the fund continued to expand its branch network throughout metropolitan and country areas . it waived at its own expense transfer conditions when higher hospital tables were introduced . in 1965 hcf extended its operations to victoria as part of a plan to assist fund contributors throughout australia . new hospital tables were introduced . branch transactions became a larger part of hcf s business with three out of every five claims being presented over the counter at metropolitan and country branches . by 1967 hcf had changed its name to the hospitals contribution fund of australia and started advertising under the new name . 26 it had established branch offices in melbourne brisbane and hobart . these were the first links in the chain of interstate contributor service offices which was completed in 1969 with branches in all states of the commonwealth . interstate operations were maintained until changes in the national health act in 1970 when the fund decided to limit its activities and service to nsw the act and northern territory . the expanding years 1972 1982 edit a hcf staff member is serving a customer in early 1980s . in october 1974 hcf in association with mbf challenged the refusal by the then commonwealth minister for social security to approve increases in contribution rates which the funds required to meet benefit payments on higher public hospital charges . the case was heard in the nsw supreme court the fund s challenge was successful and the new rates were introduced in accordance with the original submissions . 27 28 the commonwealth government s medibank now medicare fund was established in 1975 and provided medical benefits of 85 % of the schedule fee for everyone in the community under an income tax levy system . medical services coverage from 1 july 1975 followed by hospital coverage from 1 october 1975 . this provided hcf and all other australian health funds with a government run competitor whose services were compulsory . to maintain its community service role in this new environment hcf introduced its multicover plan from 1 july 1975 providing cover for the medical gap the difference between the medibank benefit and the schedule fee and for a wide range of other health care services such as dental optical physiotherapy home nursing and overseas health care which were not covered by medibank . 29 30 31 in november 1975 the head office staff completed their occupation of hcf s new premises at 403 george street sydney which have since been extended to accommodate additional staff and facilities needed to provide the fund s expanding services . towards the end of 1977 hcf took court action to appeal to the administrative appeals tribunal against the refusal by the then minister for health to approve a contribution increase required to meet higher provider charges . once again the fund was successful . 32 33 hcf life insurance pty ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary company was established in january 1980 . 34 hcf members are served in the pagewood branch in 1987 . the challenging years 1982 1992 edit in 1982 hcf celebrated its 50th anniversary . its annual report reviewed its development since 1932 . 13 in 1983 the federal government introduced medicare medibank s replacement to cover medical and public hospital treatment .