SKYROCKETING PROFITS, PREMIUMS AND COMPLAINTS – PRIVATE HEALTH UNDER TURNBULL
Today’s release of the Australian Medical Association’s Private Health Report Card 2018 shows that consumers are paying the price of Turnbull’s failure to stand up to big private health insurers and make premiums more affordable.
The Report makes clear that action is desperately needed to fix the system:
“Private health insurance premiums continue to rise year on year – far beyond the consumer price and wage price indices. If affordability is not addressed, membership rates will continue to fall, threatening the viability of the entire health system.” [p1]
Private health insurance profits have skyrocketed at the same time as complaints have almost doubled:
Source – AMA Private Health Insurance Report Card 2018, pp. 14, 16
This data is just more evidence of the need to act to make private health insurance fairer for Australians and shift the balance back to consumers.
Australian families are paying around $1000 more every year for private health insurance under the Liberals, and the proportion of policies with exclusions has soared to more than 40 per cent. As a result, Australians are paying more than ever for private health insurance, and still being stung when they try to use their cover.
But instead of standing up for the budgets of families, Turnbull is standing up for his private health insurance mates.
In contrast, Labor has a plan to shift the balance back to Australians – by capping private health premiums at 2 per cent for two years and tasking the Productivity Commission with the biggest review of private health insurance in twenty years.
Labor’s plan will deliver cost-of-living relief to 13 million Australians – an average saving of $340 to the family budget.
While Turnbull cares more about protecting the profits of insurers than he does about protecting consumers, Australians will always lose out – he needs to stop rubber stamping the wishes of the bigger insurers and adopt Labor’s plan.
MONDAY, 26 MARCH 2018