The rising movement of healthcare consumerism is equivalent to the rise of streaming TV services in the Netflix age, NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon says.
"Netflix is bringing entertainment into homes in a way we couldn't imagine not that long ago," Mr Fitzgibbon told the Newcastle Herald.
"It's also personalising the experience, serving up content which its algorithms predict will be of most relevance and interest to you."
The healthcare sector was adopting this model, with products and services - including apps - that boost patient awareness of their health and the benefits of preventing disease.
"Consumers are demanding more innovative ways to access products," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"Within a generation we've seen an emergence of healthcare products and services that are different to the traditional system of doctors, dentists and hospitals.
"There's growing spending in everyday healthcare products and services like gut health, weight loss, hair loss and contraceptives like the morning after pill."
The rise of apps for fitness, mental health, diet, health monitoring and chronic disease management is another example. Other apps monitor sleep, water intake, steps during a walk, sugar control and calorie counting.
But it's not only about technology, as this new model of healthcare - such as NIB's Honeysuckle Health service - involves support programs for injury, hospital stays, chronic disease and mental health.
This can include phone-based "personal coaches" that consider "biomedical risk factors" and provide access to qualified dietitians, pharmacists and registered nurses.
"We're trying to become as much a health management company, as we have been a health insurance company for 70 years," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
This involved helping people "understand their risk profile" and "guidance to better manage that risk".
He said there had been a shift in healthcare out of "institutional settings into homecare settings".
"We're seeing that with rehabilitation after joint replacement, chemotherapy, dialysis, wound management etc."
As health consumers take more control of their health, they're seeking more efficient and cost-effective services.
The sector is also contending with the cost of living crisis and intense pressure on the public system.
"Helping people better manage their health means less hospitalisations and more treatment in places that are less expensive in hospitals," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"The better we are at helping people manage their health, the more affordable that makes health insurance premiums.
"We're not trying to displace doctors, we're just trying to provide our members with deeper insight and choice into how they may manage their health."
In the 2022/23 financial year, NIB increased premiums by 2.72 per cent, which it said was the "second lowest in 20 years following the lowest, of just 2.66 per cent, in 2022".
These increases had been deferred due to "COVID-19 impacts" and "to ease pressure on affordability", the company announced to the ASX in August, along with a "net profit after tax of $191.1 million, up 42.8 per cent".
The latest quarterly report from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority [APRA] said the private health insurance industry "reported a more than doubling of net profit after tax to $2.2 billion" in 2022/23.
"Premium revenue grew by 3.3 per cent. This was predominantly due to membership growth. Claims costs increased by 2.4 per cent in the year, reflecting higher levels of utilisation of services."
