Australians remain confused about their private health insurance options and are being “scammed” out of their money by insurers, despite new laws designed to make policies easier to understand, according to a consumer advocate group.
Earlier this year, the federal government introduced a new system requiring insurers to categorise their policies into gold, silver, bronze, and basic.
Read more: New tiered system to better inform consumers about coverage and benchmarks
Analysis by Choice found that more than 215 silver and silver plus policies cost more than gold policies from other competitors, with Frank Health Insurance tagged as the worst offender, for charging more for silver policies than gold policies from competitors in every state and territory, AAP reported.
Major insurers Medibank, Bupa, HCF, HBF, and NIB also featured in Choice’s analysis.
Dean Price, Choice health campaigner, said the private health changes only resulted in more confusion and has called for an inquiry to save the industry from its self-imposed “death spiral.”
“People already find health insurance high cost and low value,” Price said. “This investigation uncovers more reasons why people don’t trust the companies offering these expensive policies. The death spiral this industry is facing is self-imposed and they can’t be trusted to fix it themselves.”
Choice reported earlier this year that some insurers are offering basic policies that were more expensive than bronze policies, AAP reported.
