Medibank Private chairwoman Elizabeth Alexander sticks with rival Bupa

IT seems the insurance offered by Medibank Private doesn’t appeal to its own chairwoman.

IT has more members than any other health fund and attracted almost $6 billion when sold off by the Abbott government late last year.

But it seems the insurance offered by Medibank Private doesn’t appeal to its own chairwoman, veteran company director Elizabeth Alexander AM. She has revealed her policy is with rival Bupa.

A Medibank Private spokeswoman confirmed Ms Alexander and her husband had held the same family policy — originally with MBF before Bupa took over — for 30 years.

“Ms Alexander believes having a product with one of Medibank’s competitors is a great way to monitor how they operate and what they are doing,’’ the spokeswoman said. “She thinks that Medibank products offer great benefits and value.”

Ms Alexander, who is chancellor of the University of Melbourne, is a former partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers and past national president of CPA Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

She was appointed a non-executive director of Medibank Private in October 2008 and became chairwoman in March 2013.

According to the industry regulator, the Private Health Insurance Administration Council, many people adopt a “set and forget” approach to their insurance and movement between health funds remains low.

An unreleased PHIAC discussion paper, obtained by The Weekend Australian under Freedom of Information laws, notes that people may be put off switching funds because “products are complex and difficult to compare”.

“There is a wide variation in prices, coverage (restrictions and exclusions), rates of benefit payment (known gap and no-gap arrangements), inconsistent naming of top, medium and basic products across health insurers, waiting periods in the case of general treatment products, co-payments, excess payments, benefit limitation periods for certain treatments and insurer provided health services (such as call centre advice),” the paper says.

While the regulator questions what the low switch rate says about competition in the market, it notes rising premiums, lower government subsidies and industry brokers might prompt more movement in coming years.