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Axco provides details on the life insurance sector including Australian market participants, reinsurance and distribution channels. The reports describe classes of business from both individual and group life such as whole life, endowment, term life and unit-linked.
Information on non-life classes for example critical illness and private medical insurance.

The report describes the public and private healthcare system in Afghanistan, the scope of cover, accessibility financing and provides an analysis of how the public and private systems complement each other.

Axco reports on the three pillars of Australian pension provision.

• State pension benefits including benefit calculations and eligibility criteria 
• Workplace pension provision; types of schemes calculations eligibility and; tax implications
• Voluntary individual pension provision, type of products and tax implications

The Australian report provides an in-depth analysis of the regulatory framework governing social security as well as details on financing and eligibility. Information includes but is not limited to

• state pensions,
• permanent disability benefit
• occupational accident and disease
• maternity and paternity payments 

Summary and Trends - Life Insurance

The Australian life market has been undergoing a period of profound structural change within the past five years driven by regulatory reform, competitive pressure, historically low interest rates and shifting retail demand. These circumstances have combined to depress new business, increase costs and cut profitability, with the industry reporting an aggregate loss in 2019. Life insurance premium has contracted year on year for five years with policy revenue more than halving to AUD 30.24bn (USD 20.35bn) in 2019 from its 2014 peak.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the market's challenges and is likely to define performance in 2020 with the economic dislocation and financial market volatility it precipitated further suppressing new business activity, increasing policy lapses, stoking death and disability claims and triggering investment losses. The abrupt reminder of human mortality, however, has boosted interest with MetLife research reporting increased activity on life and disability covers.

Substantial segment losses have been reported in recent years, mostly in disability income product lines, with the individual segment reporting ...................

Summary and Trends - Pensions

Pillar I state pension provision is universal but below the average for advanced economies providing 43% replacement in average earnings as reported the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is also means-tested with entitlement cut progressively for income in excess of average earnings, so ruling out integration between state and private sector pension benefits. Lower paid workers often retire with a lump sum below the assets test threshold or dispense part of it to ensure that they are below the threshold. Higher paid employees, by contrast, generally fail the means test and rely wholly on private provision.

Defined contribution (DC)-based pillar II superannuation dominates the long-term savings landscape in Australia with reported assets of AUD 3trn (USD 2.02trn) as at the end of December 2019. While the taxed, taxed, exempt (TTE) tax regime is not overgenerous, this has been more than compensated for since 1992 by compulsory employer superannuation contributions (SG), presently amounting to ............

Summary and Trends - Healthcare

Medicare provides high quality universal public health service across Australia to qualifying residents, including free or subsidised primary care and free inpatient care. It is funded from general taxation and a Medicare levy. In the event of a work accident or sickness, employee medical and hospitalisation benefits may also be provided under workers' compensation cover. This is regulated at both the state and territorial level and financed through mandatory private insurance.

Public medical services are complemented by a substantial and highly regulated private health sector, with private medical insurance (PMI) financing approximately a quarter of private health spending. Australia's PA and health market reported premium increasing 2.5% in 2019 to AUD 24.84bn (USD 16.29bn). Its scale ranked it the world's seventh largest in 2018. PMI provides gap fill cover for services not provided under Medicare ....