Harel leads insurers with 38% market share

Harel Insurance, leads Business Data Israel's 2006 list of the country's five largest health insurance companies, in terms of sales volume, with a market share of 38 percent.

By SHARON WROBEL
Harel Insurance, leads Business Data Israel's 2006 list of the country's five largest health insurance companies, in terms of sales volume, with a market share of 38 percent. "Over the past years, the insurance market has seen a significant increase in the volume of activity of private insurance companies operating in the field of health insurance, the research firm said in a report released this week. "The five large insurance companies (Harel Insurance, Clal Insurance, Migdal, Phoenix and Menora), experienced a 11% rise in their revenues in the first three quarters of 2006." Market volume of the health insurance market was estimated at NIS 4 billion, of which about 60% is held by the insurance companies and the remainder by health maintenance organizations. Among the five large insurance companies Harel Insurance was rated in first place in terms of sales volume with a market share of 38% followed by Clal Insurance with a market share of 23%. Insurance companies in 2006 were providing health insurance for about 2 million people. The number of people insured through health maintenance organizations stood at 7m of which more than half or 54% were insured with Clalit Health Services and 24% with Maccabi Health Services. In third place with 12% were those insured with United Health Services and 10% were insured with National Health Services. About 70% of the insured with health maintenance organizations chose to have supplementary health insurance schemes. The financial volume of health insurance policies operated at the health maintenance organizations reached NIS 1.6b in 2006. Economists at BDI estimated that Clalit Platinum, the new health insurance plan launched by Clalit Health Services in February and provides coverage of up to NIS 1m will add 150,000 individuals annually.