Aussies struggle to afford health bills

Ryanne Messina... with 16-month-old Kobie. Picture: Jason Edwards Source: Herald Sun

THERE has been a disturbing increase in the number of Australians downgrading their health insurance or ditching it altogether because they can no longer afford it.

The second-largest insurer, Bupa, with 3.5 million members, has seen a "growing trend" of downgrades and "discontinuances" in recent months.

"We believe (it) is a direct result of government changes - most notably the introduction of means testing of the rebate," a Bupa spokesman said yesterday.

Join the campaign today at www.bighealthinsuranceswitch.com

Have you joined the Big Health Insurance Switch campaign? Want more answers? Chat with Christopher Zinn today from 1.30pm AEDT today about  it below.

This trend is confirmed by initial data from the Big Health Insurance Switch campaign.

Among the first 16,000 to join the movement, 41 per cent said they had been looking to downgrade.

Further evidence comes from the Private Health Insurance Administration Council commissioner Lynn Ralph, who recently told the Federal Government that more people were choosing less cover for a lower premium.

Christopher Zinn explains why you would register with One Big Switch and look at your health insurance options.

"The recent rapid rise in the number of products with important exclusions of cover is a matter for some concern," Ms Ralph said.

"This might indicate that the full cover products offered by insurers have reached their price/value limit with more and more policy holders choosing less cover in exchange for lower prices."

Christopher Zinn shows you how to make One Big Switch on your health insurance.

People are also raising the excess they pay so as to reduce the premium.

At the largest insurer, Medibank, 20 per cent of the 3.7 million members are now on the maximum excess, up from 10 per cent three years ago. The Big Health Insurance Switch aims to deliver relief for the people who can't afford to pay more by creating the first discount cover open to all Australians.

The goal is to reduce the cost by 10 per cent without reducing the level of cover.

The Switch, which is supported by News Limited, passed its initial goal of 25,000 registrations yesterday - the second day of the campaign.

The new goal is 50,000 supporters by March 22.

The 25,001st registrant was Ryanne Messina of the Melbourne suburb of Hadfield.

Ms Messina, who is expecting her second child in June, said she was looking to change insurers because of the cost of her existing cover.

Premiums will rise 5.6 per cent in April after rising 5.1 per cent last year.

Millions of people also lost some or all of the 30 per cent rebate in 2012.

That added as much as 42 per cent to premiums. 

A spokesman for Health Minister Tanya Plibersek yesterday said the Government introduced means testing to make insurance "fairer".

"No longer will working families be subsidising the insurance of the most wealthy," he said.

Addressing revelations that 232,000 faced tax debts for claiming the rebate despite being stripped of it by the Government, the spokesman said: "It is important that people tell their fund what they expect their taxable income to be, so that they receive the rebate for which they qualify."

The Big Health Insurance Switch campaign was "another opportunity to let people know" that needed to contact their insurer.

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