Medibank Private paid out $6.9 billion in health insurance claims to its more than six million customers in the 2025/26 year.
"Despite this, people continue to prioritise their health," chief executive David Koczkar said on Thursday.
"More than half (or 57 per cent) of our health insurance customers are now engaging with our health and wellbeing offerings."
Medibank posted a 27.5 per cent lift in 2025/26 net profit to $638.7 million for the year ended June 30.
Its underlying net profit totalled $636.8 million, up 2.9 per cent, on an eight per cent lift in health insurance revenue to $8.7 billion.
Its shares were down more than eight per cent to $4.61 in afternoon trading.
Medibank raised its health insurance premiums by an average of 5.1 per cent from April.
"The pressure on households is clear," Mr Koczkar said.
"One in four people in Australia say they have delayed or avoided seeing a GP because of cost.
"Affordability isn't tomorrow's challenge - it's today's."
The number of GP clinics in Medibank's network charging no out-of-pocket fees has increased by 56 per cent, following the federal government's bulk billing reforms.
"But the health system remains under strain," Mr Koczkar said.
"That's why we need to shift from funding illness to funding health, and why accelerating the health transition has never been more important."
During the year, Medibank added just over two million Australian resident policyholders, a gain of 1.1 per cent, against a 2.3 per cent fall in new non-resident policyholders to 346,000.
"Growth in the resident health insurance market continues at healthy levels, including strong growth in customers under 30," Mr Koczkar told an earnings briefing.
However, the insurance boss also took aim at health insurance product comparison and other websites, where operators take a commission for customer referrals, arguing they present a real cost to consumers.
"Upfront commissions paid to aggregators by insurers are opaque to the consumer," he said.
In just two years, their sales have grown by 44 per cent and industry commissions have doubled to about $200 million, he added.
"Aggregators do play a role, especially when consumers are looking for a good deal, but they don't represent every fund or product."
Mr Koczkar said the only comprehensive policy comparison was on the federal government-hosted website.
Medibank also booked costs of almost $35 million for an information technology upgrade and legal fees related to an October 2022 cyberattack, which compromised the data of 9.7 million current and former customers.
Medibank declared a final dividend of 10.9 cents, taking the total for the year to 19.2 cents.
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