History of HBF

We began as the Metropolitan Hospital Benefit Fund, to help Western Australians cover the cost of hospital treatment.

Our coverage extended to all WA hospitals, so we lost the word 'Metropolitan' in our name to become the Hospital Benefit Fund.

We expanded our services to include a Medical Fund to cover doctors' consultations.

This decade, we opened our first regional branches at sites including Albany, Collie, Geraldton and Katanning.

We expanded our services to cover ancillary health services such as physiotherapy and podiatry.

Our head office employees moved into 125 Murray Street Perth.

As well as health, we began offering home and car insurance.

We added travel insurance to our general insurance offering.

“Ted” first appeared as the star of Hospital Benefit Fund commercials.

Our name was shortened to HBF.

In addition to health, home, car and travel, we began offering life insurance.

We introduced electronic claiming for ancillary services.

We held the first HBF Run for a Reason, which has since raised more than $9M for WA health charities.

We acquired the Friendlies Pharmacies franchise, to give our members access to a broader range of free and discounted health services.

Friendlies was the first pharmacy chain in Australia where health insurance members could claim instantly in-store.

We consolidated the HBF Group, closing our small Central West Health brand and migrating members to GMF (HealthGuard). Later in the year, we merged HealthGuard with HBF Health Ltd.

Our head office relocated from 125 Murray Street to Kings Square Perth. Later in the year, we joined nib and Bupa as investors in Whitecoat – an online platform that helps people find, choose and review healthcare providers based on their service and experience.

Today we’re proud to be WA’s leading health insurer. A lot has changed over the past 77 years, including our expansion from health to home, car, travel and life insurance. However, our sole purpose – to provide the highest quality insurance for our members – remains the same.