For an investigation into health insurance premium increases we are looking for people who have faced large increases in their health insurance premium, often much beyond the average increase for their fund. Please let us know your experiences.
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I think that since health insurance premium increases per year are controlled to âreasonableâ by the Gov, perhaps the practice of removing or limiting coverage for certain areas of private health be looked at. Often by stealth in the fine print which reduces the coverage one thinks they are paying premiums for.
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pensioners canât afford to be covered as there is no discount for pensioners.
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I think we should all salute members of the AMA (Australian Medical Association) and federal governments (of all stripes) for chronically and successfully misleading consumers about the reason that the cost private health insurance keeps rising and that even with the rises in premia, the out of pocket amount patients pay keeps growing.
Hint: it is not Bupaâs or Medibankâs or HCFâs greed at work.
The fact is, politicians could encourage private health insurance by putting a cap on the grotesque fees many physicians charge. Currently there is no limit to the greed of some physicians and as a consequence private insurance cover cannot adequately cover even a decent fraction of physiciansâ fees. let alone most of the fees.
Breaking news: if say a cancer procedure has a Medicare scheduled fee of $2,000 and a doctor charges $19,000, the patient would receive a proportion of the $2,000 by way of rebates from Medicare and her private insurer. The fee above $2,000 ie. the other $17,000 would be all out of pocket for the patient.
If politicians mandated that no physician could charge more than say $8,000 for the procedure, sure there would be howls of protest from the well heeled AMA militants. Picket lines too. Go slow and work to rule shenanignas.
Some may even leave the profession and are free to do so. If we find ourselves with too few physicians, we can always import them and streamline their applications (hint: promote the public interest and downgrade the influence of the AMA in deciding whoâs âgood enoughâ to practice in Oz).
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This is not the first suggestion of price control expressed here and it wonât be the last. It would be more valuable and informative if all aspects of that policy, both for and against, were looked at together. As it is all we hear is the price of XYZ is excessive brought about by greed and it ought be controlled. If only it was that simple.
When physicians charge over 10 times the scheduled fee, surely itâs past time to do something about it.
Doing something about it is, IMHO, very simple. There are jurisdictions around the world where a universal medical scheme is available to all and includes all procedures. If I am not mistaken, a list of participating physicians is made available to the public.Those physicians are employed by the state in GP clinics, specialist rooms or hospitals. Of course the public can choose to avail themselves to other doctors, whose fees are not covered by such a universal scheme, but in that case the whole fee is out of pocket expense for the patient.
Where does that system operate? What are the standards and waiting lists like for such public clinics?
I will ask a friend for as much data as possible and get back to you. There are indeed wait lists for elective procedures but little in the way of waiting for urgent (as defined by physicians) cases.
Sounds a lot like public hospital treatment here. I know somebody who needed a triple bypass (not Lazarus) who had it done at a large public hospital and didnât pay a cent. For not immediately life threatening problems if you live long enough the public health will pay.
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That depends both on the reasonableness of the physician and the reasonableness of the scheduled fee. You have to question both.
combined with
could be unconstitutional in Australia. So caution in respect of comparing with any other country is advised.
You may blame the doctors. I blame the lawyers. Specialists in Australia note the day of the calendar year when they have first paid all their professional insurance costs i.e. before that date they havenât earned a single dollar, never mind about subsequently paying for premises, staff, equipment, âŠ
Our health insurer BUPA and others held off their premium increases for 2023 until later in the year. Many of us will be waiting to hear what is agreed with Government for 2024, with a return to increases applying from 01 April each year. No joke.
Note Medibank is advising its customers that they will be receiving notices with the premium increases from mid Feb 24. Further that if customers pay in advance of the increase the current 2023 year premium rates will be applied. A saving for some who pay annually or less often than monthly.
âMedibank Premium Increase FAQs | Medibank
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The new Health Insurance increase has been approved by the Federal Health Minister and the increases will come into effect on 1st of April this year. Average increase will be 3.03% after negotiations between the Funds and the Minister concluded. Initially the request from the Health Funds was for an increase around 6%, this increase was denied by the Health Minister, this has created a delay in the normally longer notification period. This doesnât mean that some funds wonât have higher increases than the average and some funds will have much lower increases. CBHS Corporate Health as an example, is increasing by 5.87%.
An article about the increases can be found at YourLifeChoices website Average health insurance premiums to rise by 3.03 per cent | YourLifeChoices.
The Ministerâs release about the increases
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Just read the Choice article relating to the increases. From memory I think it said Peoplecare has gone up 1.6% on average - my premium actually decreased from last years! As Peoplecare if a not for profit provider, we also had 4 refunds on premiums we had paid in the last 2 years! Canât be more happier with their service too.
My health insurance premiums have gone up. I use one for hospital and another for extras. One went up by 1% the other by 4%.
Linked from the Defence Health topic
