Small rise in health cover cost

FAMILIES will pay an extra $2.42 a week for health insurance next year as premiums rise by 2.7 per cent – the lowest annual change since 2001.

Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the price rise on Thursday, which will cost the average single person an extra $1.12 a week.

Some consumers will also be spared an increase from January 1, with Mr Hunt saying insurers would “work through the impacts of the pandemic by offering Covidrelated refunds, deferring their premium rate rise and other measures to support better care and to improve affordability”.

Earlier this month, it was revealed Mr Hunt had rejected bids from insurers to charge higher premiums and demanded they come back with more affordable proposals.

The five biggest insurers all pledged to return tens of millions of dollars in premiums to customers after the pandemic restricted access to medical treatments such as elective surgery. The competition watchdog had warned it was monitoring them to make sure they followed through on their promises.

Mr Hunt said the government had now delivered “the eighth successive decline in premiums changes since the Coalition was elected in 2013”.

“The Morrison government understands the importance of the cost of living for Australian families and this record low premium change is less than the annual average premium change of 2.74 per cent in 2021,” he said.

“We continue to implement significant reforms and investments to improve the value and affordability for the 14 million Australians who have private health insurance, and to support the private healthcare sector to deliver quality care.”

Amid concerns from insurers about rising costs, Mr Hunt said the government was working on further reforms to the system, including to reduce the price of medical devices.