Australia’s leading private health insurer, Medibank Private, has placed its simplified fund rules on its website, giving members clear information and immediate online access to the general fund rules.
The “Plain English” fund rules are the first step in Medibank Private’s aim to make communication between itself and its members simpler and more transparent. Industry regulators have praised the move to make the Fund Rules available to members via the internet.
Medibank Private’s product brochures have also been written to reflect this new simpler language.
Under the National Health Act, all health funds must have a set of fund rules. The fund rules are designed to outline the general terms and conditions of membership of the health fund.
Medibank Private Managing Director, George Savvides, said giving members access to a set of transparent fund rules was an important step in improving communication of the fund’s products to its members.
“When I took on the role of Managing Director last year, I made it my priority to simplify both the range of products we offer, and the way in which we speak to our members.
“The first step in doing this is to offer all members a set of fund rules written in plain English, that they can easily access and understand,” he said.
Mr Savvides says staff are also happy with the new edition of the Fund Rules.
“Our staff say the simplified language we now use helps them to better communicate with our members when discussing specific product queries.”
The Fund Rules are available at Medibank Private’s website (www.medibank.com.au) or at any of the 102 Medibank Private Retail Centres across Australia.