As you may know, the federal government has introduced some major reforms to the private health insurance industry. Health funds have started to communicate with their members about these changes, and we’re aiming to keep track of these changes.
If you receive any communications from your fund and don’t mind sharing, can you forward the info to us healthinsurance@choice.com.au? We are not collecting any personal details and you can feel free to remove any personal details before sending.
My St. Luke’s policy, while only changing names (no change to covered services), has had a price hike of 11.3%, nearly 4 times the industry average!
Upon calling customer service, they said that it was based on the number of claims against that product.
Will shop around after April 1 and the Choice comparison tool gets reposted! It’s a shame, because they have a good record for customer service (one of my reasons joining), and my experience with them was fine. Even with my phonecall today, they apologised and said they’d log my feedback.
Many of us fall into the % trap, but as I previously posted even though my HCI policy went up it is still only a few dollars higher than the ‘2nd top option’ was last year! Since they all go up it may well still be one of the lowest cost, or not.
We need to focus on costs not just percentages! It would do the Choice reviews well to include that. HCI is one of the top percentage increasers on the Choice ‘graph’ but may still be one of the cheaper or higher value products, depending on the policy and cover.
A higher percentage increase off a low base can be good when compared to a smaller increase off a much higher base.
Received email from GMHBA on the 18th of March, they apologised for the late communication.
I’ve been moved from Gold to Silver Plus,
my premium is now $100.15 more.
Gov. rebate $31.55 more.
‘All features and benefits of our hospital benefit remain the same’
Pregnancy and cataracts are not included and that’s alright, but maybe I should go to Gold for hips etc and for rehab at a private hospital.
BUPA emailed us mid Feb with our letter and changes. Being away for a long holiday it was put on hold to review!
The need for future joint replacements has been one of our considerations. One of us already has had both knees upgraded? Mine creak and groan along with one shoulder and the odd hip moan. It is a concern.
The out of pocket costs for my partner’s knees were still considerable, even after some negotiation. Anethetists!!! Possibly the worlds longest four letter word here? We wonder what the costs would have been if we had a lower tier of private hospital cover?
Note:
Already on the higher level of plans we were advised no major changes, except for loosing benefits for a bundle of therapies we consider doubtful in their usefulness. The monthly cost increase after rebate is approx 3.5%.
GMHBA has let me know that following the Au Gov reforms, they are no longer required to send tax statements to members each year.
They will now be sending my tax information directly to the ATO, and they will already have it when I file my tax return.
I can view it on line, and I can request a copy. But there’s nothing further I need to do.
My Bank already discloses directly to the ATO the amount of Interest earned from my bank deposit.
It seems easier this way, but then why do I feel like something has been taken away from me?
