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Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums (Read 345 times)
whiteknight
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Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Oct 23rd, 2019 at 4:55pm
 
Health insurance premiums to rise after government deal fails to reduce costs   Sad

October 23, 2019
Sydney Morning Herald
   

Australians with private health insurance will face hefty premium increases next year - likely to be twice the rate of inflation - after Health Minister Greg Hunt's deal with the medical devices industry failed to lower costs as promised, the peak body for insurers has warned.

Private Healthcare Australia chairman John Hill said Health Minister Greg Hunt's goal of limiting the next round of premium increases to an average three per cent would be "extremely challenging" to meet, after the cost of devices like knee and hip replacements soared by 8.6 per cent.   Sad


Consumers should brace for private health insurance premiums to go up considerably next year.

"Without putting downwards pressure on those costs, you can't put downward pressure on premiums. It's simple mathematics," Mr Hill told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age ahead of his speech to an Actuaries Institute conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.

He said insurers would have "no other option" but to pass on their rising costs to consumers.


Private health insurers will submit their proposed premium hikes, which must be approved by the Health Department, next month and Mr Hunt will announce the approved price increase in late December, with new premiums to apply from April 1.

An increase of 3.2 per cent would be double the current rate of inflation.

The federal government faces mounting pressure to reduce premiums and reverse what has been described as a "death spiral" in the private health industry, as increasing numbers of younger Australians drop their coverage due to high premiums and a perceived lack of value.

The latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows 65,000 fewer Australians had health insurance in December 2018 compared to a year earlier.

"Inflated prices for established medical technologies must come down in line with the rest of the world," Mr Hill will say in his speech.

"One of the most commonly used implants – cardiac stents, are five times the price in Australia as they are in New Zealand."   Sad

Insurers agreed to this year's average premium increase of 3.25 per cent - down from 3.95 per cent the previous year and the lowest increase in 17 years - on the basis a deal struck by Mr Hunt with the Medical Technology Association of Australia would slash their device costs by $250 million this year, with a total of $1.1 billion to be saved by 2021.


Greg Hunt has promised to tackle rising health insurance premiums.

Prices charged to insurers are set by the federal government through the Prostheses List, costing $860 million more in the private sector than they do in public hospit­als.

Instead, insurers argue they were hit with higher costs after the industry responded by driving up sales volumes through tactics such as repackaging items and offering incentive rebates to doctors, pushing up costs by 8.6 per cent this year.

MTAA chief executive Ian Burgess said the volume growth was "as anticipated" due to new medical device technologies being added to the Prostheses List and an ageing population.

"That compares with a ten-year average of 7.8 per cent - it's not a significant increase," Mr Burgess said."

"The fact is, prices [on the Prostheses List] have come down."

He said insurers' proposed premium rises for 2020 must take into account the next phase of prostheses list price cuts, due to come into effect early next year.

Mr Hill, a former South Australian health minister, said the devices industry was "gaming the system" and that insurers had no choice but to pass the cost onto consumers.

Medical devices make up eight per cent of insurers costs and include joint replacements and insulin pumps, along with human tissue items such as corneas, bones and heart valves.

The MTAA deal states the minister will not make further changes to the Prostheses List without industry consultation, but Mr Hill argued the government could terminate the deal on the grounds the peak body had not negotiated "in good faith".

A spokesman for Mr Hunt said the Coalition government was implementing "the most significant improvements to private health insurance in over a decade" and that reforms had delivered record-low premium rises along with "better coverage for mental health, standardised policies and youth discounts".

"The government continues to work with the sector on the next wave of positive reforms to continue to improve private health insurance and we expect private health insurers to play their part in delivering value for money for consumers and policy holders," the spokesman said.
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whiteknight
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #1 - Oct 23rd, 2019 at 4:59pm
 
Its far too expensive Mr Hunt.  The coalition government have failed to reduce the health insurance prices.   Sad
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macman
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #2 - Oct 23rd, 2019 at 5:18pm
 
whiteknight wrote on Oct 23rd, 2019 at 4:59pm:
Its far too expensive Mr Hunt.  The coalition government have failed to reduce the health insurance prices.   Sad


That covers every thing these morons have tried. Be it power, banks fees or health insurance the "big stick" is just a con they drag out every time. While their mates are pouring millions into their coffers in donations they will do nothing to stop their corrupt practices. Exactly the same with murdoch's media empire. Unlike the mighty Albo who has routed the corrupt Setka and sent him packing. 
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Bam
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #3 - Oct 23rd, 2019 at 10:32pm
 
Quote:
Private Healthcare Australia chairman John Hill said Health Minister Greg Hunt's goal of limiting the next round of premium increases to an average three per cent would be "extremely challenging" to meet, after the cost of devices like knee and hip replacements soared by 8.6 per cent.

So bring the pain. The ABC, Newstart recipients, the aged, the disabled, the sick, the car manufacturing industry and many others have had to bear the pain of Budget cuts. Why should the PHI industry be exempt?

The PHI industry have done very well, being able to get as much money as they wanted from this government while everyone else was feeling the pain.

It is now their turn. PHI premiums should be frozen for seven years, to match the Medicare rebate freezes. Maybe then the bloated PHI can render some of the fat out of their budgets, such as rebates for unused exercise equipment and other spending that has nothing to do with health. Or better still, scrap the PHI rebate entirely and remove government price controls over PHI premiums and let the PHI feel the full force of the market.
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juliar
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #4 - Oct 24th, 2019 at 10:56am
 
So wait for the next round of talks. These things don't happen overnite you know.

Maybe an incentive to get people off medicare ?
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Grappler Truth Teller Feller
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #5 - Oct 24th, 2019 at 10:59am
 
Govt Fails To
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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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Grappler Truth Teller Feller
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #6 - Oct 24th, 2019 at 11:07am
 
macman wrote on Oct 23rd, 2019 at 5:18pm:
whiteknight wrote on Oct 23rd, 2019 at 4:59pm:
Its far too expensive Mr Hunt.  The coalition government have failed to reduce the health insurance prices.   Sad


That covers every thing these morons have tried. Be it power, banks fees or health insurance the "big stick" is just a con they drag out every time. While their mates are pouring millions into their coffers in donations they will do nothing to stop their corrupt practices. Exactly the same with murdoch's media empire. Unlike the mighty Albo who has routed the corrupt Setka and sent him packing. 


What proof is there of Setka being corrupt?  Outspoken, yes - roughie, yes - Proletariat Unionist - yes (the only hope lies with the Proles - bloody Trotskyites - imagine any government actually sharing power with its electorate.. jeez - what is the world coming to?) - stand ups for his members who elect him time and again - yes (no wonder UQSCL Labor hate him with all their sheila sh1t these days) .. .........

Do try to stay on subject and stick to realities...

** UQSCL (pronounced euchreschool) - Uni Quadrangle Sidewalk Cafe Latte

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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams
 
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juliar
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Re: Govt Fails To Reduce Health Insurance Premiums
Reply #7 - Oct 24th, 2019 at 11:10am
 
What has the utterly aggro Steka got to do with health ? He is so bad Albo has kicked him out of the corrupt halls of the Chinese Labor Party.
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