Catholic Health Australia is calling for a fundamental overhaul of the way private health insurance premium rises are calculated and approved. Source: The Australian.
A CHA submission to the premium round – an annual process in which insurers apply to increase the cost of their private health policies – has called for any premiums price bumps to be specifically linked to the amount of benefits paid out by health funds.
The CHA is calling for premium price rises to be determined at arms-length from the political process, with an independent body, such as the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority, determining how premium rises should be calculated and approved.
Currently, premium increases are approved by the federal Health Minister.
“An independent body would take into account the evidence and data across the sector to deliver better outcomes for patients, hospitals, and funders,” said CHA’s director of health policy, Katharine Bassett.
“While delivering a more robust premium round in the short-term, this would also lay the groundwork for a careful and considered longer-term move towards a National Efficient Private Price — an independently set, nationally consistent activity-based funding model for private hospitals,” Dr Bassett said.
In its submission, CHA said the rules and regulations governing private health services have not sufficiently protected patients from service closures.
“The current system has neither prevented private health insurers from banking huge profits nor ensured an adequate flow of funding to struggling private hospitals,” the submission says.
It calls for benefits paid out the previous year, premium revenue, management expenses broken down in detail, overall annual profits, out-of-pocket costs associated with insurance product tiers, and products closed and reopened at a higher cost to all be revealed transparently and taken into account in the premium setting process.
FULL STORY
Call for independent body to set insurance premium rises (By Natasha Robinson, The Australian)
