Medibank customers to benefit from health insurance reforms

Medibank today welcomed the Federal Government’s reforms designed to address the affordability of private health insurance.

The reform package includes reductions to the prostheses list, which is estimated to deliver $188 million in savings for consumers across the industry next year.

In addition, consumers will benefit from improved access to in-hospital mental health services without serving a waiting period and will now be able to include regional and rural accommodation and transport costs in their hospital cover.

Pleasingly, the introduction of a new Gold, Silver, Bronze, Basic classification system will also make it easier to compare and choose private health insurance products.

The reforms also include increases to excesses, which means more choice for consumers, as well as incentives for young people to join private health insurance.

Medibank CEO Craig Drummond said these are positive reforms to further improve the affordability, value and transparency of private health insurance for our customers.

“Affordability in the health sector is an issue of concern for our customers. This reform package is essential to keeping premiums affordable for our customers with Medibank committing to return every dollar of these savings to customers,” Mr Drummond said.

“In an environment where the cost of healthcare continues to rise, reforms like this are paramount to addressing the issue of affordability.

“Further reform of the prostheses list is a win for our customers. We will pass on in full the savings from lower prostheses prices to our customers, which will help to keep downward pressure on premiums. The first round of reforms to the prostheses list announced by the Government in October 2016 resulted in our 2017 premium increase being 35 basis points lower than it otherwise would have been because of the reductions.

“It is particularly encouraging to see reforms that will make mental health services more accessible and affordable for customers with private health insurance. Mental health issues are a growing concern to the community.

“Our focus has been, and will remain on how we can continue to address the issue of affordability for our customers. The announcement made by the Federal Government today, is an important step in addressing this issue, and we remain committed to continuing this work to drive cost from the system,” he said.