Call for private health insurance public submissions

CHOICE Campaigns
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Have you had a problem with your private health insurance? Have your voice heard - use our online tool to make a submission.

We want to hear about any problems you’ve had with private health insurance and out-of-pocket medical costs, including if:

  • You thought you were covered for a procedure, but it turns out you weren’t
  • You had to pay a large amount of out-of-pocket costs for a procedure
  • You found it confusing and complex to understand costs before a procedure
  • You’ve had trouble understanding and comparing policies when shopping around
  • You find it hard to understand government incentives like the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Healthcover
  • Rising premiums are affecting the type of health insurance you have

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Submissions will be attached to CHOICE’s final submission to the inquiry in July. Have your say in the Federal Parliament’s upcoming private healthcare inquiry.

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If any @Health-Campaigner’s have had an issue with private health, please add your story.

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I keep reducing my private health insurance, to the point where further reduction is not possible, yet rising premiums keep bumping the price up to an unaffordable level. The next federal election will dictate whether we stay or go. I fear more under the Libs that they continue to allow increased premiums go unchecked. NIB offer a rewards program where members can get a % discount from stores, eg. Coles, JB Hi-Fi, etc. I would rather receive a greater return on my claim than a trivial amount of 5% on a Gift Card.

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Most of these “discount at whatever business” Reward Programs are not funded by the Organisations that offer them. For example your Health Insurer would ring a provider such as JB Hi-Fi and say how much of a discount would you offer our clients if they used you. JB Hi-Fi would assess the likelihood of getting more business this way and then may offer a discount on any purchases made by the clients. Your Health Fund then puts this business in a list and advise you, their clients, that if you show your Health Fund Card at JB Hi-Fi you will get x% discount.

JB Hi-Fi gets more customers hopefully and your Health Fund prides itself on how it helps it’s members/clients. Many Businesses/Organisations do this as it is free (or relatively free) to provide this.

You will never see a greater % return on your Health Refunds as your Health Fund does not spend anything on the Rewards anyway. They may however get a small return from the other business/es if enough clients do spend their money, sort of like a spotters fee.

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Posted a tweet that links to Choice’s submission page. I don’t have many followers but hopefully it will do some good.

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Thanks @grahroll, we appreciate it :thumbsup: