Giving health insurers the flick

SOPHIE Elsworth’s article “How I gave my D-grade health insurance the flick” ( Mercury, March 26) was right on time, and the Minister for Health needs to pay close attention to what is happening.

I also received a nice, seemingly harmless letter from my health insurance company, also one of the largest in the country, stating they are having to increase premiums a modest amount due to rising health costs, which makes perfect sense. However, hidden away in the fine print was the truth. As my wife and I are in our 60s, the policy, as changed, does away with coverage for almost every illness, injury or procedure we can expect to face.

Of those still covered, they have changed our excess so we would have to pay virtually all of them out of pocket. In simple terms, the company has now increased our premiums while making sure they will never have to pay for any of our medical costs, ever again.

Of course we will change to a company that will actually give us the medi- cal coverage we are paying for. Only the foolish or unaware will continue to pay something for nothing.

If this tactic becomes widespread, the Government can expect people to abandon their private health insurance en masse, thereby massively overloading the public health system. Ministers at both federal and state level need to get this under control before it spreads further.