Are you eligible for health fund Bupa’s Covid cashback payment?

Australia’s health funds saved $1.8 billion from Covid surgery bans and delays in treatments - and one is handing cash back.

Exclusive: Members of health fund Bupa will get a cash handout worth up to $110 before Christmas as the fund returns some of the hundreds of millions it saved from Covid surgery bans.

Customers can expect to receive a payment of between $15 and $110 depending on their policy, with an average payment of $71, Bupa Health Insurance managing director Emily Amos said.

The measure will cost the fund $120 million and will be delivered as a one off cash payment, some other funds have reduced premiums instead.

“We’ve always said we wouldn’t seek to benefit from the Covid pandemic. As we haven’t seen claims return to levels that we originally anticipated, we wanted our customers to share in these savings,” Ms Amos said.

Bupa's Emily Amos. Picture: Bupa

The payments will be available to all domestic Australian resident customers who had private health cover with Bupa for a minimum of three months between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.

Bupa is the last of the major funds to hand back to customers the savings it has made. Medibank, nib and HBF have all returned money to their members.

Health funds saved $1.8 billion as a result of last year’s Covid surgery bans and drop off in demand for extras services.

Yet it has taken them over a year to return those savings to members and it’s far from clear whether they have returned the full amount of savings to customers.

The amount returned by the big funds tallies to only several hundred million dollars in total. Health funds are claiming delayed premium rises and hardship exemptions should also count towards the $1.8 billion they owed their members.

Bupa claims its cash handout brings the Covid savings it’s returned customers to more than $315 million over the past 18 months.

“This includes: – Implementing a $50 million financial hardship package which was accessed by 50,000 customers in the form of premium waivers and discounts; – Delaying premium increases worth $142 million; – Increasing mental health support benefits by $200 in 2021 for 2.2 million customers; and Encouraging our customers to stay healthy by providing the 28 by Sam Wood fitness program for three months at no cost,” the fund said.

The fund will write to members in coming weeks to let them know when they will receive the cash hand out.

Bupa will make the payments later this year. Picture: Supplied

Medibank and ahm members received a one off reduction in their premiums worth up to $175 in September as the fund returned some of its Covid cash stockpile.

This cost the fund $105 million.

It too claimed delayed premium rises and other Covid supports cost it $195 million bringing the total cost of its financial support package during COVID-19 to over $300 million.

Nib gave its members a one-off premium reduction of around $22 per policy a measure derided by consumers and health industry players.

Health fund HBF gave its members cash payments of up to $140 in July to compensate for Covid savings and it also applied a zero annual increase in premiums in April.

Consumer groups are demanding the independent regulator ensures greater transparency over the profit hand backs to ensure consumers are not cheated.

“It is disappointing that it has taken so long and the returns to members are not as high as expected,” the CEO of the Consumers Health Forum, Leanne Wells said.