What is white labelling in health insurance?

Generally, the term white labelling refers to the situation where products and services are made by one company but are sold by another company. 

This involves asking a company to make a product for you and, then, re-branding those products as your own and marketing them to your target audience.

For example, a hairdresser enters an agreement with a shampoo and conditioner manufacturer to purchase their shampoo and conditioner and sell those products to her clients under her own brand.

In the context of private health insurance in Australia, it refers to the situation where a registered health insurer allows another company to re-brand their insurance policies and sell those policies to a target market.

For example, nib (a registered insurer) currently has an agreement with APIA that allows APIA it to sell nib’s health insurance policies under the APIA brand to APIA’s target market – people over the age of 65.