Catholic Health Australia, private hospitals and medical device companies are ramping up pressure for reform to the way health insurance premiums are set amid ongoing warnings the sector continues to face unsustainable challenges. Source: The Australian.
Catholic Health Australia has joined the Australian Private Hospitals Association and the Medical Technology Association of Australia in writing to Health Minister Mark Butler calling for urgent reforms to the health insurance premium round process and accusing insurers of returning less and less to members even as their profits have risen to historic highs.
The letter calls for an independent body “to oversee insurer behaviours that are threatening the viability of the system and the value of private health insurers for consumers”, a cap on capital requirements to compel insurers to free up “excessive reserves” of capital to support the struggling private system, and reform to incorporate the cost of delivering care in premium round processes.
It comes as the sector awaits the release of a summary of a federal Health Department-led viability review of private hospitals amid concerns many were facing a dire financial situation and some services, particularly in hospital mental health and maternity care, were unable to remain open.
CHA chief executive Jason Kara said the premium round process – by which insurers pitched to the Government behind closed doors the level of premium rise they considered reasonable – was a political process that should be made more transparent and independent.
“We should be able to say, as a hospital sector, ‘this is what it costs to deliver a service’, and private health insurance can say, and ‘this is what it costs to deliver the insurance service’, and we can have an independent assessment of that without having to engage in politics or any other factors.”
But Dr David said the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority already fulfilled an oversight role in premium rounds, and an independent body was not required.
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Private hospitals demand seat at the table on premium rises (By Natasha Robinson, The Australian)
