Are you giving your health fund your private information?
Australians signing up to health fund reward programs are handing over valuable private information on their sleep and exercise habits and it could be costing them.
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Exclusive: Customers who sign up for a free flight or a cheap massage through health fund rewards programs could be paying hidden charges and be encouraged to divulge sensitive information.
That information could be used to increase life insurance premiums or put people at risk of data theft.
Consumer group CHOICE has reviewed health fund rewards programs that let members earn rewards for meeting exercise goals and answering online health questionnaires.
It was so concerned at what it found it asked the consumer watchdog to investigate the worst offender — GMHBA.
That fund, based in Geelong, Victoria, was found to have a sneaky practice of building the $120 to $240 a year cost of its rewards program — run by AIA Vitality — into its premiums.
“You can’t simply opt-out when you buy online – the only way to opt-out of the extra $120 a year is by phone,” CHOICE Health Campaigner Dean Price said.
Health funds are using the rewards programs to attract and keep members as thousands of Australian’s quit health insurance due to rising premiums and out of pocket expenses.
Under the programs members earns points that can be used to reduce their premiums or access cheap services or rewards by eating healthy, doing health screens, sharing the data from fitness trackers and going to the gym.
Privacy experts are also concerned about the way health funds are using rewards schemes to gather sensitive data on their members’ lifestyle, weight, sleep habits and mental health.
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Australian Privacy Foundation’s health spokesman Bernard Robertson-Dunn said it was a ‘very murky area”.
“If any organisation acquires data through loyalty schemes and wishes to use it internally there is nothing to stop them but if they want to use it externally they have got to tell you,” he said.
Some companies are already selling data gained through their loyalty scheme to third parties but people are unaware because they don’t read the fine print, he said.
“If you are not paying for something then you are the product,” he warned.
GMHBA said its website clearly outlined that consumers were purchasing two separate products if they bought bundled health insurance — health insurance plus the rewards program.
Otherwise they could simply buy the health insurance component on its own.
The fund conceded some customers would end up paying to take part in the rewards program because they can’t earn enough points to offset the cost.
Medibank offers to slash health fund premiums by up to $200 a year if members sign on to their Live Better app and give the fund information on how much physical activity they undertake.
The CHOICE investigation found the Medibank app works best of the apps examined in helping people get healthier and had a good choice of rewards.
A Medibank spokesman said forty per cent of people in the scheme had so far redeemed rewards under the program and eight in ten of the rewards redeemed had a value of $100 or more.
The fund said it did not share information with its travel or life insurance businesses or third parties and data collected can only be used in accordance with the privacy statement that the user agrees to at sign up.
Qantas health insurance allows you to earn Qantas frequent flyer points if you download the Qantas Wellbeing App.
The CHOICE review found during promotional periods there can be large sign-up bonuses for taking out Qantas health insurance but outside these the annual points cap of 20,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points means you can’t get significant rewards.
The Qantas scheme provided a wide choice of rewards – everything in the Qantas Frequent Flyer rewards store including flights and upgrades.
Qantas said “We offer points for being active to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Information tracked within the app cannot and does not impact a member’s insurance premium.”