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Health insurance costs are increasing, but there can be some ways to dodge the hikes.

How to avoid a double whammy to your private health premiums next month

In just over two weeks, there will be yet another hit to the hip pockets of millions of Aussies: private health insurance premiums will go up.

  • Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon

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Sydney woman Luan Lawrenson-Woods paid $30,000 in out-of-pocket fees for surgeries and treatment related to breast cancer despite having private health insurance.

One in five patients skip treatment due to out-of-pocket costs

The survey also found 40 per cent of private hospital patients were being slugged with out-of-pocket specialist fees of more than $1000 – and many weren’t informed of all costs in advance.

  • Broede Carmody and Henrietta Cook
Emma Burridge Mother and acupuncturist. Story on birth centres at Private hospitals. Daughter Delilah assisting with lighting.

Emma ditched her expensive health cover but a new plan could get her back

Expectant mothers could have their pregnancy managed by a midwife or GP under a radical proposal to make private maternity care more affordable.

  • Angus Thomson
Emergency waiting room at a hospital.

Who pays for COVID’s victims? Ultimately, we all do

Even if you do not care about the health of others, there is a self-interested reason to want fewer people spending months of their lives in private hospitals.

  • The Herald's View
Generic hospital photos of John Fawkner Hospital in Moreland Friday 22 November 2024. Photo AFR/ LUIS ENRIQUE ASCUI

Spinal surgery, aged care, long COVID: Australia’s most expensive hospital stays revealed

Private health funds are becoming particularly concerned about the burden of long COVID on the health system, five years since the pandemic began.

  • Angus Thomson
Surgeons in the operating room

IBAC probes claims sick patients languished as surgeons chased fees

In one case a woman who was critically unwell in the intensive care unit waited from 8.30am until late afternoon for surgery to treat a potentially deadly infection.

  • Henrietta Cook and Broede Carmody
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Ryan Millar takes a nap at work.

This Perth office is encouraging naps at work. Here’s why yours should too

Ever wished you could duck somewhere for a quick kip at work? Staff at this Perth workplace can, and the results may surprise you.

  • Claire Ottaviano

Health insurers want to raise prices. How far will Labor let them go?

Health Minister Mark Butler said he was “not inclined” to approve any of the proposed premium rises that insurers had requested, sending them back to the drawing board.

  • Natassia Chrysanthos
Luigi Mangione, center, is escorted from Manhattan Criminal Court after his arraignment where he pled not guilty to state murder and terror charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Americans blame insurance companies nearly as much as Luigi Mangione for CEO’s death, poll finds

Younger Americans are particularly likely to see the alleged murder as the result of a confluence of forces rather than just one person’s action.

  • Linley Sanders, Tom Murphy and Amelia Thomson-Deveaux
IBAC is investigating allegations that a handful of surgeons at the Royal Melbourne Hospital billed the TAC, Workcover and potentially private health funds for work that was never carried out.

RMH scandal deepens with claims surgeons rorting WorkCover, private health insurers

The state’s corruption commission is investigating claims that surgeons at one of the country’s top hospitals fraudulently billed WorkCover and private health funds.

  • Broede Carmody and Henrietta Cook

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