Private health insurance premiums will rise from April 1, leaving consumers wondering if they should give it up or downgrade to save money.
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Articles on Private health insurance
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Private health insurance premiums are set to rise again. These 14 charts (well, technically 10 charts and four tables) look at some of the reasons why health insurance premiums keep going up and up.
We are paying more for our health insurance because we are using it more. No crude, short-term measures to restrict premium growth will deal with this fact.
Private health insurance is meant to take pressure off the public system. But with exclusionary policies, people are increasingly avoiding the levies and using the public system anyway.
Recently announced changes to private health insurance reinforce the primacy of hospitals for mental health issues. This is despite many inquiries recommending better community mental-health care.
The government's latest changes to private health insurance won't affect the cost of premiums.
Whether a 10% discount is enough to increase health insurance take-up by young people, many of whom are in precarious employment arrangements or unemployed, is a question for the marketeers.
Private patients who stay in hospital for costly rehab after major knee surgery recover just as fast as people who go home and have physiotherapy. So, why pay more?
The AMA are pushing for simplified insurance packages that would see gold, silver and bronze products offered. This won't solve the overall problem with private health insurance.
Leaked documents of a secret 'taskforce' to reform public hospital funding reveal some controversial proposals. So how are hospitals funded and why might this need changing?
The 30% subsidy for private health insurance was predicted to be a bad and costly policy many years ago. And 20 years later, the only thing that's changed is the $6 billion-plus hole in the budget.
For the first time in 15 years, as premiums and complaints rise, the proportion of the population with private health insurance is declining.
What did the Coalition promise during the campaign in 11 key policy areas, from health to infrastructure to jobs?
Health is always a key factor in deciding which way to vote. So what have the major parties promised in health? And what could these changes mean for consumers?
A key goal of the Affordable Care Act was to lower health care costs, but first we have to help individuals make better choices.
Around a quarter of people with private health insurance still choose to use the public system. Why?
The 5.6% increase amounts to the average family paying about $300 more a year for an average policy.
We start 2016 with big challenges for the health system and uncertainty as to how governments will meet them.
All insurers would have to provide a comprehensive set of health services to its customer, covering all aspects of their health care.
Removing subsidies for the 50% with private health insurance is politically unpalatable. But scrapping rebates for ancillary services can be a good place to start.
Top contributors
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Lecturer, Public Sector Finance, University of Canberra
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Professor, Allied Health Research, Melbourne Health, La Trobe University
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Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW
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Professor of Health Economics, University of Technology Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, School of Economics, University of Adelaide
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Stephen Duckett is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute
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Adjunct Associate Professor, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University
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Emeritus Professor, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney
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Professor of Health Economics, University of Adelaide
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Policy Head, Research Assets, Sax Institute; Co-Director, Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, Australian National University
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Fellow, Centre for Mental Health Research, Australian National University
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Director of the Centre for Health Economics, Monash University
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia
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Professor of Speech Pathology, University of Sydney
