Health funds strong-armed by the government into rising their membership fees by the lowest annual rate in 19 years have called for 'urgent' industry reform to help them deal with their rising costs.
Health funds strong-armed by the government into rising their membership fees by the lowest annual rate in 19 years have called for "urgent" industry reform to help them deal with their rising costs.Health funds say costs must be cut from the private system.The smallest annual increase since 2001 will come as a relief for consumers, whose wages are only growing at 2.2 per cent annually and have been dropping out of the private system because of affordability.
Medibank, the country's largest private heath insurer and which paid $5.4 billion in benefits last year, was doing its part to improve affordability through a five-year, $90 million cost saving drive, Mr Koczkar. “Still, the reality for both private health insurance, and the healthcare industry as a whole including government who fund the lion’s share of our nation’s healthcare, is that the cost and frequency of medical treatment is rising," he said.
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