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Health insurance

Yesterday

We are more fortunate than we know.

Amid global chaos, we are still the lucky country. Here’s why

Australians should step back and recognise the strength of the institutions that underpin our world-beating prosperity, writes Andrew Low.

  • Andrew Low

January

Bupa is the latest health insurer to bow to pressure and increase its funding to struggling private hospital operator Healthscope.

Healthscope and Bupa avert funding crisis with new deal

The new agreement means hundreds of thousands of patients will be spared from paying higher hospital costs.

  • Michael Smith
Health insurers are under growing pressure to help private hospitals resolve their financial challenges. The Health Department has proposed expanding maternity cover to lower tier policyholders.

Health insurers baulk at Labor pitch to expand maternity cover

Changes floated by the Health Department include forcing funds to pay more for hospital-in-the-home programs to take pressure off private hospitals.

  • Michael Smith
Health Minister Mark Butler wants private health insurers to do better on this year’s premium increases.

Butler rejects health insurers’ second bid to lift prices

Health Minister Mark Butler has rejected a second round of requests from private health insurers to increase customer premiums, saying they need to help more during the cost-of-living crisis.

  • Updated
  • Ronald Mizen

December 2024

Luigi Mangione was taken to New York where he could eventually face the death penalty.

Mangione could face death penalty in fresh charges

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was whisked to New York by plane and helicopter to face new federal charges of murder and stalking.

  • Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
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Luigi Mangione at an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania last week.

Mangione charged with terrorism act over UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting

The district attorney said Brian Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we’ve seen that reaction”.

  • Jake Offenhartz and Jennifer Peltz
Healthscope chief executive Greg Horan has been trying to secure deals with insurers.

Only one thing can end the $22b private health war

Brookfield’s latest fund injection into Healthscope is more evidence of the need for the government to step in to try to resolve a desperate and messy issue.

  • James Thomson
Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance unit, was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel.

The CEO, not the shooter, is the real working-class hero

Brian Thompson, who was fatally shot in New York, is a model for how a talented, determined man from humble roots can rise to the top of corporate life.

  • Updated
  • Bret Stephens
Luigi Mangione’s mugshot.

Why there’s little sympathy for US health insurers

The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and admiration for his alleged killer, highlights the problems of a healthcare system many see as broken.

  • Oliver Barnes and Oliver Roeder
Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, exits a vehicle while in police custody.

CEO shooter reveals his motivation in handwritten note

The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate charged with gunning down a health insurance executive made an angry outburst as he appeared in court.

  • Updated
  • Michael Sisak and Mark Scolforo
John Fawkner Hospital in Melbourne is one of the Healthscope-owned facilities that will charge Bupa customers more for procedures.

Bupa offers Healthscope doctors payments to switch hospitals

The health insurer giant is offering Healthscope doctors up to $500 per patient if they move to another hospital.

  • Michael Smith
Health Minister Mark Butler says health insurers are exploiting a loophole to increase premiums.

Health insurers tricking members with secret premium rises: Labor

Health Minister Mark Butler says insurers are exploiting a loophole that allows them to charge hundreds more by replacing products with more expensive new ones.

  • Michael Smith
The AMA warns insurance companies have too much say over at-home treatment.

Doctors say health insurers have too much control over home care

The AMA is warning that Australia is at risk of adopting “US-style managed care” where insurance companies call all the shots.

  • Michael Smith
Mark Butler has a difficult decision to make.

Mark Butler’s health problem with no fix

The health minister is in the middle of an almighty fight between private hospitals and the health insurers, and he’s facing a difficult decision in the lead up to the election.

  • Michael Smith
Bullets lie on the pavement outside the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.

‘Delay’, ‘depose’ inscribed in bullets in CEO murder

The inscriptions loosely echo the book title “Delay, Deny, Defend”, which describes tactics allegedly used by insurers to deny claims.

  • Myles Miller, John Lauerman and Robert Langreth
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Calvary Health Care chief executive Martin Bowles does not support the private hospital association’s demand for emergency funding.

Private hospitals split over industry’s demand for emergency funding

Two not-for-profit groups say they are opposed to calls from bigger players like Ramsay Health Care for more money, or the introduction of $200 visit fees.

  • Michael Smith
Nurses at the John Fawkner Hospital in Melbourne. The hospital is owned by Healthscope, which tore up its contract with several big insurers.

Private hospitals want $200 per visit fee to head off funding crisis

Operators of major private health facilities say it is their only option if they aren’t handed $1.3 billion in emergency funding by the federal government

  • Michael Smith
John Fawkner Private Hospital.

Independent hospital pricing an opportunity for genuine health reform

The reality is private hospitals need fairer agreements with health funds. Providers, insurers, and government need to start a conversation.

  • Martin Bowles
In a cost-of-living crisis, even small increases in fees will force people to downgrade or even drop out of health insurance.

Treating health funds like cash cows will be a disaster for our health system

If we want a sustainable private system, the next federal government must focus on reforms that put consumers before vested interests, to keep health insurance affordable.

  • Rachel David
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says insurers will return $140 million to the public health system by paying higher room rates.

Insurers warn of premium hikes after losing NSW bed rate battle

Private health insurers have caved to pressure from the Minns government to pay higher hospital bed rates following a protracted campaign.

  • Michael Smith

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/health-insurance-5y5