Health Atupri takes in fewer premiums in 2023 and posts a loss

Health insurer Atupri collected fewer premiums last year and once again posted a loss at the bottom line. The high cost of healthcare services continued to weigh on the result.

Meanwhile, a new era has begun for the Group with the merger with Visana to form Atusana at the start of 2024. In 2023, Atupri posted a loss of CHF 31.0 million, with premium income falling by 11% to CHF 729.9 million, as reported on Wednesday. In 2022, the company had even posted a loss of CHF 66.7 million.

Atupri cited an accrual loss from risk equalization and higher-than-expected run-off benefits from the previous year as the reasons for last year's deficit. In addition, benefit expenses in areas such as paramedical services continued to rise. The investment result was significantly better, which Atupri used to rebuild the provisions for investment risks, according to the press release.

High benefit costs

Although benefits paid out across the Group as a whole fell slightly by 3 percent to CHF 714.5 million, they remained at a high level. Operating expenses increased by 6 percent to CHF 61.8 million, partly due to investments in the IT structure. In conjunction with the lower premium volume, the combined ratio deteriorated by 2.2 percentage points to 105.8%.

Meanwhile, the number of insured persons across the Group fell only slightly by 0.2% to just under 178,200. At the beginning of this year, Atupri had 150,600 (-1.3 percent) basic policyholders. The introduction of new products, particularly in supplementary insurance, and an "attractive premium policy" have laid the foundation for sustainable growth, it said.

A year ago, Atupri and the much larger Visana Group caused a stir with the announcement of the planned merger. The new name Atusana would create a health insurance company operating throughout Switzerland with its home market in Espace Mittelland. The merged health insurance company has over one million customers.