6 years ago
FAMILIES AND OLDER AUSTRALIANS TO BEAR THE BRUNT OF ANOTHER TURNBULL PRIVATE HEALTH HIKE
THE HON CATHERINE KING
Confirmation that private health insurance premiums will rise by two times the rate of inflation is a massive fail for the 13 million Australians who have private health insurance and a big win for insurance companies
This year’s rise will see older Australians and families having to pay an extra $180 a year– meaning they are now paying $1000 a year more for private health insurance than they were before the Liberals were elected.
After this latest hike, premiums will have increased by an average of 27 per cent under the Liberals.
Wage growth is at all-time lows and family budgets are straining under Turnbull’s failure to address cost-of-living pressures. Australians are already dumping private health insurance under Turnbull - in 2017, private hospital coverage dropped to the lowest level since 2011.
This comes off the back of the major insurers’ share price receiving a bump after Turnbull’s so called ‘reform package’ last year and an industry that last year made before tax profits of $1.8 billion.
Malcolm Turnbull will never stand up to the private health insurers and say enough is enough – because he is so out of touch with the pain these price hikes are causing for millions of families.
It is no wonder therefore that complaints about private health insurance are at all-time highs, with the Ombudsman receiving 9,499 complaints last year compared to 3,427 a few years earlier – a 177% increase.
Only a couple of months ago Turnbull promised to make insurance more affordable but instead all he is doing is making it more profitable for insurers.
Labor knows that private health plays an important role in Australia’s world-class health system, but under Turnbull, Australians are questioning the cost and value of private health more than ever.
The Liberals have an appalling record on private health insurance. They rubber stamped the two highest increases since 2005 – a slightly lower increase this year doesn’t undo any of the damage they have done.
Private health insurance – facts and figures:
The 2018 increase will see Australians paying an extra -
Young single - $75
Couple/ family - with obstetrics: $179
Mature couples: $181
Under the Abbott/Turnbull Government – premiums have increased by 27% -
Young single - $466 more per year
Couple/ family - with obstetrics: $1139 more per year
Mature couples: $1090 more per year
In 2017:
Private health hospital coverage dropped to its lowest level since 2011, at 45.8%.Source
Out-of-pocket costs for hospital treatment increased by 5% - patients are now paying an average $298.55 per service. Source
Private health policies with an exclusion jumped to more than 40% - up from 8% in 2007. Source
11,821 Australians aged 50-69 dumped their private health insurance in the three months to September 2017. Source