Three of the country’s largest health insurers have caved in and agreed to give private hospitals giant Healthscope more money, a breakthrough in an increasingly bitter stoush over who should foot soaring medical costs.

Medibank Private, NIB and HCF have agreed to out-of-cycle funding payments in the “tens of millions of dollars” for Healthscope, according to five people with direct knowledge of the discussions but prohibited from speaking publicly about the deal.