Australians with private health insurance will cop a fresh cost-of-living blow when premiums rise tomorrow, April 1.
While costs will increase by an average of 3.73 per cent, Australian government data reveals some of the nation’s 35 insurers are hitting their customers with far higher hikes, while others have lodged lower rises – or none at all.
9News finance editor Effie Zahos warns some insurers could be hitting policyholders with more than double this amount.
At the top of the list for this year is the not-for-profit Police Health, whose premiums are rising by an average of 9.56 per cent – far more than any other company.
Zahos said her own HCF premium is about to rise by 7.85 per cent and she found a way to save some cash before this hike starts hurting her hip pocket.
HCF offers six weeks’ free for new customers and Zahos tried her luck.
“I called and asked for the same deal – and guess what? I got it,” she said.
“One call saved me $588. It’s worth checking if you can do the same.
Insurers can offer customers on existing policies a 12 per cent premium reduction each year.
Zahos says policyholders can also save in several other ways including downgrading your policy, raising your excess, switching or staying put and simply putting in a call.
You can check how much your health insurance provider is raising premiums in the table below.
Police Health is followed by a group of three insurers with increases of between 5 per cent and 6 per cent: NIB (5.79 per cent) and Bupa (5.1 per cent), who make up more than half of Australia’s private health market between them, as well as AIA (5.7 per cent).
Fellow major brands HCF and Medibank aren’t far behind, with hikes of 4.95 and 3.99 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, HIF has the smallest hike at 1.91 per cent, while 11 insurers have lodged an increase of between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, including HBF (2.8 per cent), GMHBA (2.44 per cent) and Teachers Health (2.94 per cent).
Private health insurance premiums rise once every year, but have to be approved by the federal health minister.
This year’s average hike of 3.73 per cent is the highest since 2018, but Health Minister Mark Butler said insurers had lobbied for greater rises.
“In December, I wrote to every single one of the 29 insurers asking that they sharpen their pencils and provide us with an increase that was more in the interests of their members,” he said.
“Based on the resubmissions, I was not prepared to tick and flick their asks and instead asked them to resubmit again.”
Around 15 million Australians are currently covered by a private health insurance policy.
