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April 1st, 2013 
Consumers can make big savings by switching policies. Picture: Guy Bailey
Source: National Features
AUSTRALIANS with private health insurance saw their premiums rise by an average of 5.6 per cent yesterday but fund members could save hundreds on their health cover providing they shop around.
Private Health Insurance Ombudsman Samantha Gavel told News Limited consumers could make savings of around $300-$400 per month by switching policies, but they needed to be careful they were comparing products that covered similar services.
The Ombudsman is a government-funded organisation that provides independent advice to health fund members, health funds, private hospitals or medical practitioners.
On its website – privatehealth.gov.au – it shows New South Wales health fund members insured with a top of the range HBF product are now paying $908 per month for cover and could save $684 per month if they switched to a budget Credit Union Australia product.
In Victoria, the top of the range HBF product costs $941 per month and Credit Union Australia $230 and the saving is $711 per month.
In Queensland the HBF product costs $886 and the CUA product costs $246 and the saving is $620 per month.
In South Australia the HBF product costs $919 and the CUA product $246 and the saving is $673 per month.
The Credit Union of Australia product is cheap because it covers only 65 per cent of hospital costs in a private or public hospital and its extras benefits are not as generous as HBF.
The HBF policy covers 100 per cent of hospital costs and up to 90 per cent of general services such as dental, optical and physiotherapy.
Even shopping around the different products within the same health fund could save members up to $137 per month.
And the website shows the price difference between major funds like Medibank Private and BUPA can be around $60-$70 per month on similar products.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has been urging health fund members to shop around since she announced the latest premium rise that will push up the cost of cover by around $190 per family per year and $95 per year for singles.
“Families can find the best deal on their private health insurance by shopping around,” Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said yesterday.
The Credit Union of Australia was a very small health fund based in Queensland and Ms Gavel cautioned anyone considering switching should check it covered private hospitals in their area.
Ms Gavel also said consumers should be aware that smaller health funds may be slow to handle the calls generated if a large number of new people wanted to join the fund.
The ombudsman said some handy tips for those thinking of shopping around for cover would include checking the level of ancillary benefits paid by different funds, whether a policy excluded cover for procedures like obstetrics of hip replacements and which hospitals it covered.
The Big Health Insurance Switch: Join the campaign
The Ombudsman’s website contains information on how effective each funds gap scheme is and the level of members who quit the fund as well as the number of complaints recorded for each fund.
The cost of health cover for many Australians is set to soar after July l when the full impact of a new government means test on the 30 per cent rebate will be felt.
Around 2.4 million Australians were affected by the means test that came into effect on July 1 last year and many avoided the initial hit by purchasing 12 months of cover on June 30 2012, allowing them to keep their rebate for an extra 12 months.About 90,000 people have decided to pursue an additional way to save – by registering for the Big Health Insurance Switch.
In partnership with consumer network One Big Switch, News Limited has been pushing to make cover more affordable by creating the first discount cover available to all Australians.
It is expected that the Big Health Insurance Switch offer will be announced next week and close to 100,000 readers have registered It is hoped a price cut for registering with the One Big Shift will be as much as 10 per cent.
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