Dr John Gerrard admits he doesn’t know how people on low incomes afford private health insurance

Queensland’s top doctor has raised alarm at the soaring cost of private health insurance and the effect it could have on the embattled public hospital system.

• List: Health funds hiking their premiums

Queensland’s top doctor has raised alarm at the soaring cost of private health insurance, admitting he doesn’t know how people on low incomes can afford it. 

Chief health officer Doctor John Gerrard made the comments while warning about the pressure on the public health system. 

Dr Gerrard declared he “genuinely” had faith in the state’s embattled public hospital system, but pointed to the status of primary health and aged care as the sections he holds most concern.

The comments coincided with the release of the biennial chief health officer’s report, which provides a major snapshot of the health of Queenslanders.

The report, the first since the Covid-19 pandemic, revealed Queenslanders were living longer, still getting skin cancer at rates higher than the rest of the country, and smoking less while vaping more.

But longer lives means an increase in chronic disease, and in turn a “substantial increase” of 45 per cent in age-standardised hospitalisation rates in the last two decades.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard says the decline of private health insurance is a problem, but he has faith in the public system. Picture: Zak Simmonds

The state government has been under increasing pressure amid ongoing ambulance ramping, bed block in hospitals and ballooning specialist surgery waitlists, with Health Minister Yvette D’Ath oft lamenting the decline in private health insurance as a pinch point in the system.

Dr Gerrard said the decline in private health take-up was “a problem” but acknowledged insurance was expensive, even for someone on his salary.

Dr Gerrard was paid about $370,000 in his first six months in the role.

While noting health insurance was not his area of expertise he also said the private system had been a “workhorse” particularly in areas like elective surgery.

“It’s a lot of money for me and I am well paid. I mean, every time I have to pay it I wince,” he said.

“People who are on much lower incomes than me, I don’t know how they can afford it. So it is a problem.

“The fewer people (that) have private health insurance, the more it will put pressure on the public health system.”

In Queensland 41 per cent of the population has private health hospital cover — a gradual decline since late 2014 — according to the latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

The cost of private health has already soared for about 10 per cent of customers as of April 1, with eight funds hiking prices while other insurers have deferred this year’s increase to November.

The average rise is expected to be 2,9 per cent this year according to federal health department data, equal to $134 a year on a family policy and about $60 a year for singles.

Dr Gerrard, asked if Queenslanders should have confidence in the state’s public hospitals, acknowledged it was “always difficult” when an individual experiences harm because the system couldn’t cope but said he “genuinely” had faith in it.

He said the system was facing “specific issues”, including maternity services in the regions as a “particularly difficult” one, but the viability of primary and aged care was under more “immediate threat” than acute hospital care.

“I do actually have confidence in the public hospital system in Queensland,” Dr Gerrard said.

“You get sick with anything complicated anywhere in this state and we have to be able to provide treatment for you, and by and large it happens.

“It’s invisible, you never see it, you’re not aware of it, it happens seamlessly and thousands of people are treated every day.”

One Family Yoga & Fitness Family owners Victor and Lainie Vicencio-Jenkins and their children Jasmin (youngest), Nicolas and Sofia in Holland Park. Picture: David Clark

One Family Yoga and Fitness Family owners Victor and Lainie Vicencio-Jenkins have instilled a culture of health, nutrition, and active living in their family.

But the couple knows accidents and emergencies can happen so pay the premium of having private health insurance for them and their three children.

“(Financially) it certainly has taken a toll, but it’s kind of one of those things, it’s the old saying, you don’t need it until you need it. So, you know, fingers crossed, we don’t ever need it. But, you know, you’ve got to have it there, just in case,” Ms Vicencio-Jenkins said.

Ms Vicencio-Jenkins believes that if more Queenslanders adopt a healthy lifestyle, it may have positive economic for both the patient and the state healthcare system.

“It’s lessens the strain on the medical system for sure,” she said.

“A lot of the chronic inflammatory diseases, heart disease, obesity, leads to people getting surgery, or reconstructions.

“But if people just live a more healthy life, which doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, it could save them and the health system so much money.”

Originally published as Dr John Gerrard admits he doesn’t know how people on low incomes afford private health insurance