How my insurance doubled

FIVE different private health insurance quotes for the same policy from the same insurer. Go figure.

This is exactly what happened to me when I recently sussed out my upcoming premium costs with a major health fund.

It’s confusing enough knowing whether you have the right private health insurance cover, let alone what you are entitled to if you do make a claim.

I phoned my insurer recently to find out what my next annual premium would be for my hospital and extras cover. I pay my premium upfront each year – it’s a good way to save if you can afford it.

If you pay for 12 months cover ahead of the April 1 rise you can beat the increase that kicks in for the year ahead.

I was keen to know how much I was up for, because I hadn’t yet received my notice.

They told me it would be $2133 for another 12 months.

Great. I knew how much money I needed to come up with before premiums rose by an average of 3.3 per cent.

But the following day the insurer sent me an email telling me my cover for the next year would be $1944 and it would be direct debited later this month.

Then in the same email they informed me: “After this we’ll deduct your regular yearly premium of $2060 from your account starting on 21/09/2019.”

So all of a sudden I would be paying $4004?

I was confused and annoyed so I phoned them again. After discussing the issue with the call centre operator, he removed my direct debits and told me my premium would be $2137 for 12 months, if I paid before April.

I told him it was poor form that the insurer sent me an email telling me they would deduct my annual premium – of different amounts – twice in the one year.

It ended up being an “IT error”.

The lesson from this is you have to watch insurers. Make sure you read the emails or letters you receive in the coming weeks because they may have stuffed it up.

As boring as it is, you must read the fine print on your renewal notices.

After finally working out $2137 would cover me for another year, I then got a call from the insurer’s complaints team telling me they were sorry and were looking into the issue.

I then received another notice last week saying I now owe $2060.

After more talks with the insurer, they said a $100 gift card would be on the way to me.

Rather than reforming the health insurance system, as is currently under way, how about starting with the basics and getting the right information to customers?

So all of a sudden I would be paying $4004? I was confused and annoyed so I phoned them again