Health insurance: Find out the cheapest deals in your state
Health fund premiums are crippling Aussies with costs that rival a mortgage. See how much you can save with our new tool to get a better deal.
National
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SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Health fund premiums jumped by up to 15.5 per cent this month with many top Gold Hospital and Extras products now rivalling a mortgage at a crippling $800 per month.
News Corp today unveils a simple new tool to help you locate the cheapest policies in your state and we reveal the two cheapest Gold policies in the nation.
Our major investigation has found price rises for many products far exceeded the 2.74 per cent average rise announced by funds.
Fifty three hospital policies had a premium rise of $20 or more per month for singles or $40 or more per month for families and there were further hikes for extras cover.
GU Health’s Advance Silver Plus Hospital cover in Western Australia soared by $27.50 or 15.5 per cent.
However over 90 policies had a price fall including Frank’s Top Hospital Silver policy in the Northern Territory which fell by an astounding $120 month for singles and $241.36 per month for families, a fall of 48 per cent.
We uncovered Bronze and Silver policies that cost more than Gold and found in some cases opting for a $750 excess on your policy could save you more than $750 off your premium.
And we discovered a staggering 595 policies were retired on March 31 while hundreds more new ones were launched.
Of the big four health funds, HCF had the cheapest Gold hospital policy in four states, Medibank was cheapest in NSW and BUPA cheapest in the Northern Territory. Nib had the most expensive Gold hospital product of the four funds in every state.
“Premium pricing is impacted by a number of factors including services covered, past claims experience as well as future claims inflation for each individual fund. As such, there may be difference in pricing between funds,” nib Chief Executive – Australian Residents Health Insurance, Ed Close said.
Private Healthcare Australia CEO Dr Rachel David told News Corp the cost of top cover was now becoming unaffordable at $800 per month.
“The market for Gold hospital cover has been quite challenging, a lot of funds have withdrawn at that level,” she said.
Those burnt by premium rises and looking to switch cover must battle an impenetrable maze of 104,000 health fund policies, Choice’s health spokesman Dean Price said.
“The great disparity in premiums and what different funds offer in cover only adds to consumer confusion and doubts about health insurance value and we need a searching inquiry,” Consumer’s Health Forum chief Leanne Wells said.
For the first time ever News Corp is offering to help readers steer through the confusion with a simple new tool that reveals the cheapest hospital policies.
Using official government data, the tool produces a league table which lists Gold, Silver, Bronze and Basic health hospital cover from cheapest to most expensive in each state.
We could not cover extras policies because this was too complex.
The analysis showed the best value Gold non corporate policy in the nation was St. LukesHealth’s Gold hospital cover with a $1000 excess which costs singles $170 and families $341.
At this price it was nearly half that of Gold policies offered by some bigger health funds which have a maximum excess of $750 even cheaper than some low level BronzePlus policies.
However, after being contacted by News Corp and informed they were the cheapest the Tasmanian based not for profit fund promptly pulled the policy off the market to new members.
“St. LukesHealth recently conducted a review of its product suite and as part of this, we are in the process of closing the Gold Hospital 1000 product to new members,” St. LukesHealth chief operating officer Darren Harris said.
This left Mildura Health Funds’ Five Star Gold product costing just $202.25 for singles and $404.50 for families as the cheapest non corporate Gold policy.
It is available in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.
Our analysis showed the cheapest health fund product in any category can be bought for just $37.50 per month.
HCF’s Accident Only Basic has an excess $1500 and costs a single $37.50 and a family $75 in the Northern Territory, but only covers you for treatments resulting from an accident.
The most expensive health fund product is Doctor’s Health Fund’s zero excess Gold policy which in South Australia costs $759.56 per month.
This insurance is only available to doctors and is so expensive because it pays medical fees set at Australian Medical Association rates practically guaranteeing members will face no or minimal gap fees.
None of the prices quoted includes the government’s tax rebate for health cover so families eligible for these subsidies would pay less.
Breast Cancer Network Australia said price was not the only factor when choosing insurance -you need to drill down into what it covers.
Women with breast cancer can end up with out-of-pocket expenses totalling over $21,000 and many have to raid their superannuation because their insurance doesn’t fully cover surgeons’ fees or pathology bills.
“Some policies pay for drugs like Perjeta that are not listed on the PBS, some health insurance pay will reimburse your parking, others won’t,” BCNA chief Kirsetn Pilatti said.
And even if you have insurance you don’t need to use it, you can still opt to be treated for free in the public hospital system, she said.
“Because breast cancer is category one you’ll be treated straightaway,” she said.
Australia’s largest insurer Medibank is one of the cheapest of the big four funds and its Chief Customer Officer David Koczkar said price was only one factor.
“We also provide personalised programs that reward customers for taking healthy actions, preventive health programs and support to navigate the health system.”
CONFUSING: MUM’S HEALTH FUND SEARCH
Kensington mum Jess Taha found it very confusing trying to find the cheapest insurer when she took out family health cover three years ago when she turned 30.
Her HCF Bronze Hospital and Extras family policy with a $500 excess costs $245 a month. The hospital component costs around $2175 a year.
News Corp’s online tool could not find a cheaper hospital policy in NSW in that category.
“That’s good. It’s definitely saved me a job of looking into it,” Ms Taha said.
Ms Taha said she liked the fact HCF was not for profit and said it had paid when her daughter received public hospital treatment for a virus and covered twice yearly dental visits for every member of the family.
Figuring out the best health insurance deal was complex, she said.
“Its very confusing trying to like compare everything, it is hard to navigate,” she said.
“I was comparing it to Bupa and I’m pretty sure there was a work discount but even then Bupa worked out more expensive,” she said.
‘YOU HEAR A LOT OF HORROR STORIES’
By Samantha Scott
For the Scanlon family in Brisbane, having private health cover was a no-brainer.
Husband and dad Steven Scanlon said he had always had health insurance since he was a child, so when he had a family of his own, he didn’t think twice.
Residents of Burbank in the city’s southeast, Mr Scanlon, wife Vanessa, and kids, Ashton, Charlee and Riley are all covered with a family ahm health insurance policy.
“I got private health insurance very young because my father was in the Defence Force and they provide free cover for the family,” the 37-year-old said.
“I already had two kids when I met my wife and when I brought her onto my plan, unfortunately she wasn’t there for the waiting period and got pregnant, so our first daughter ended up costing me $20,000.
“It was our decision to go private, but for me, health insurance is extremely important.
“My wife is now 14 weeks pregnant with our second child, and we have private health insurance for her now, so it’s a big stress relief.
You hear a lot of horror stories and you don’t want to put your family in that position.”
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