Sympany continues to grow and achieves excellent annual results for 2017
Basel, 12 April 2018 – Sympany has concluded a successful business year in 2017 with a profit of CHF 76.0 million, meaning an increase of CHF 20.3 million, or 36.5 per cent, compared to the previous year. This increase is largely due to three factors: refined risk compensation, which has yielded a greater profit for Sympany, as recipient of the payment, than anticipated; moderate increases in benefit costs; and high returns on investments. The good result is also partly due to Sympany’s administrative costs being CHF 1.5 million lower than in 2016.
Both the private and corporate customer bases are developing positively. As of 1 January 2018, the number of private policyholders has reached around 253,000. Basic insurance has shown particularly impressive results with a net increase of over 11,000 policyholders. The corporate client portfolio significantly improved profitability and increased premium income in 2018. The premium income has increased by 0.6 per cent to CHF 1,008 million, of which CHF 756 million was accounted for by basic insurance in accordance with the Swiss Health Insurance Act (KVG) (CHF 729 million in 2016). The cost of claims and benefits has decreased by CHF 18.1 million and amounted in the previous year to a total of CHF 865 million. By the end of 2017, the shareholders’ equity amounted to CHF 414 million, representing an increase of about 15 per cent or CHF 55 million compared to 2016.
Customers across Switzerland benefit from unique surplus payments
Sympany is still the only health insurance company in Switzerland to make surplus payments to both policyholders with basic insurance coverage and those taking out supplementary insurance. These surpluses occur when medical treatment costs paid for by the health insurance are significantly less than anticipated when setting premiums.
In 2017, around 67 percent of Sympany policyholders were delighted to receive payouts amounting to a total of CHF 9.4 million. A similar number of customers are expected to receive surplus payments in 2018. Sympany has transferred CHF 21.3 million to the surplus fund for this purpose and will request another surplus payment from the supervisory authority.
Wider networks and more offers
In 2017, Sympany focussed its basic insurance specifically on the managed care model. Existing offers were expanded and refined, thereby expanding the HMO network across 30 group practices and healthcare centres and extending the “casamed pharm” pharmacy model into new regions. casamed pharm policyholders are now receiving medical advice and support in around 250 pharmacies. The offer is clearly meeting customers’ needs, as over 4,000 have already chosen to use this model in its first year of existence
At the beginning of 2018, Sympany launched an innovative pilot project, a new family doctor model. Customers can now choose a virtual family doctor practice from the eedoctors app as their practice. With this new model, Sympany is showing how strained family doctor practices, emergency departments and acute hospitals could be relieved of the burden of straightforward cases in future.
Sympany’s subsidiary Meconex has expanded its business to include occupational healthcare for companies. Since the beginning of 2018, Meconex has been providing its new occupational health services to several large companies in the Basel region. In this new area of business, Meconex is supporting these companies’ staff and their families in a total of eight locations.
Sympany invests in digital solutions
In 2017, Sympany continued to invest in numerous projects and innovations, making processes more efficient and further simplifying its policy holders’ lives. For example, it is now possible to take out insurance policies for both basic and supplementary insurance online at the Sympany website, meaning the insurance application can be filled in and submitted online from start to finish. This has already gained Sympany over 1,000 new customers in 2017.
After creating the Sympany app and website, the company is now taking the next step with the customer portal, making it easier for policyholders to get in touch. The portal will be launched in the first half of 2018 with the aim of giving customers who want it an entirely paper-free, simple and quick service for all insurance matters.
Sympany under new leadership since April 2017
In April 2017, Dr. Michael Willer became CEO. Equipped with extensive knowledge of the Swiss healthcare market, Dr. Willer took over operational management from Suzanne Blaser, an Executive Board member who had managed the company on an interim basis for the first three months of the year. Sympany employed on average 483 staff in 2017, which is equivalent to 430 full-time employees.
Press release: Sympany continues to grow and achieves excellent annual results for 2017