The federal court has yet to decide whether the fine is appropriate.<\/p>\n
Bupa concedes it misled thousands of members to wrongly believe they did not have insurance for certain medical treatments during the five-year period. According to the ACCC, some customers upgraded their insurance when they did not need to.<\/p>\n
When the proposed $35m fine was first announced, Bupa\u2019s chief executive, Nick Stone, said \u201cwe are deeply sorry for failing to get things right for our customers and are saddened by the impact this has had on them and their families. This should never have happened\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ACCC said at the time that some Bupa customers \u201cdelayed, cancelled or went without treatment for which they were, at least partially, covered under their health insurance policies\u201d.<\/p>\n
A document outlining Bupa\u2019s undertaking to the ACCC <\/a>shows that the insurer voluntarily implemented a \u201cremediation program\u201d to address harm caused in 2021, three years before the bonuses were paid. The document also shows Bupa had cooperated with the ACCC\u2019s investigation for four years before it was eventually taken to court.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n As at 30 June, the insurer had so far paid $14.3m in compensation to people affected by 4,100 wrongly assessed claims.<\/p>\n Corporate disclosures reveal Bupa\u2019s health insurance executives had, by that time, already been awarded millions of dollars for the company\u2019s \u201cstrong improvements in both business outcomes and customer experience\u201d.<\/p>\n Bupa\u2019s bonuses are just one example of bonuses being awarded to top staff, despite community outrage and regulatory sanctions over their company\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n Qantas is facing pressure to curtail generous bonuses after the federal court found it illegally sacked 1,800 workers<\/a>. So too is childcare giant G8 Education, whose chief executive secured a short-term bonus of $534,426 last year<\/a>, despite multiple safety breaches and the employment of a man subsequently charged with multiple child sexual offences.<\/p>\n Corporate law expert Helen Bird, a senior lecturer at Swinburne university, said bonuses were key to determining the culture of an organisation and what behaviours are considered acceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to know how a company is really governed, then you\u2019ve got to understand how it rewards its executives,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>\n Multimillion-dollar bonuses \u2018send the wrong message\u2019<\/p>\n During the 2023-24 financial year, one senior Bupa employee was awarded an annual bonus of $2.5m, with payment of $2m deferred until a later year. The bonus was more than double the position\u2019s $1.1m salary.<\/p>\n Another 19 managers shared in bonuses totalling $11.6m, with $5.5m of that deferred to later years.<\/p>\n The bonuses have been condemned by the Consumer Health<\/a> Forum of Australia\u2019s chief executive, Dr Elizabeth Deveny, who said \u201cit\u2019s pretty hard to believe these executive bonuses are in line with community expectations\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a company has breached consumer trust, multimillion-dollar executive bonuses send the wrong message,\u201d Deveny said. \u201cIt reinforces the perception that profits come before people.<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine there are a lot of people who had their claims incorrectly denied who are scratching their heads asking themselves why these bonuses were deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n A Bupa spokesperson repeated the insurer\u2019s apology and said the breaches were \u201cnot the result of any one individual\u2019s actions or decisions, rather they were caused by cumulative failures in our systems, processes and in the training of our people\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA significant part of total executive remuneration is based on criteria that is strictly linked to how the business performs,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Bupa also indicated bonuses were cut in response to the ACCC\u2019s action. It is not known whether this included clawback provisions for the deferred bonus payments.<\/p>\n Many of the employees subject to the ACCC proceedings no longer work at Bupa.<\/p>\n \u201cIn line with our approach to executive remuneration and accountability framework, we\u2019ve taken appropriate action in response to these issues,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis includes disciplinary steps and\/or financial penalties where appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Until 2024, companies like Bupa were not required to disclose executive bonuses. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority introduced a mandatory disclosure regime to \u201cshine additional light on how executives are incentivised and on the consequences for poorly managed risk<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n The Australian Medical Association\u2019s president, Dr Danielle McMullen, did not criticised Bupa directly but said she remained concerned about executive pay at the expense of patient outcomes.<\/p>\n Quick GuideContact us about this storyShow The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/p>\n If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760976967_369_4000.jpg\")
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