Private health insurers watch out: Kogan is coming with budget insurance

Pure play online retailer Kogan.com just signed a three-year partnership with Medibank Group to create its own health insurance business, Kogan Health.

Kogan Health, the latest in a portfolio strategy which includes insurance and mobile broadband services on top of Kogan.com’s traditional consumer electronics offering, will focus on budget health insurance.

David Shafer, executive director of Kogan.com, says the partnership with Medibank Group will bring healthy competition to the health insurance industry, ultimately making insurance more affordable.

“Having more than 8 million Aussies as members of the Kogan community enables us to form strong commercial partnerships like this, which result in a win-win-win for Medibank, Kogan’s shareholders and, most importantly, Kogan’s customers,” he says.

Medibank Group executive, chief customer officer David Koczkar, says Kogan.com has been very good at creating a sharp, low-fuss online experience for value-conscious customers.

“So this partnership is a great match and we’ll be able to do something different and attractive for Kogan Health customers,” he says.

Kogan Health is expecting to launch its health insurance offering in the second half of this financial year.

Kogan.com shares dipped below its ASX-listing price of $1.80 issue price in July last year but have been rising this year as the company reports better than expected progress against its prospectus.

The shares were up 1.27 per cent in morning trade at $4.77.

In August, Kogan.com posted full year after tax profit of $3.74 million, a 362.3 per cent rise on last year, outperforming its prospectus forecast.

This article first appeared on Business Insider Australia, Australia’s most popular business news website. Read the original article. Follow Business Insider on Facebook or Twitter.