RBA goes easy, but Health Insurance shoots up again
If you blinked last Friday afternoon, you’d have missed it.
The Federal Government agreed to put up your private health insurance by an average 6.18%, to take effect from April 1.
But don’t be fooled. Most of us FiftyUps will be paying more than the average.
We conducted a study around this time last year which found we are paying about one-and-a-half times the average, depending on your cover.
I even took a petition of 15,000 of your signatures to the then-Health Minister Peter Dutton, complaining of the lack of transparency. He gave us a good hearing, to be fair, but clearly nothing has changed.
These premium increases are well above the rate of Australia’s inflation, which is currently running at 2.2%.
Consumers Health Forum Chief executive Adam Stankevicius says the annual rise in premiums is “crazy and unsustainable”.
We agree with him, and we also would like to see a Productivity Commission inquiry into private health insurance so we can have a reasoned, rational and evidence-based debate about its future role in our health system.
Meanwhile, we FiftyUps had better find more pennies to put aside, or look for a better deal (see below), because we will be paying hundreds more again this year.
Thankfully the RBA stopped short of cutting rates again today, which would have been disastrous for many older Australians who rely on interest from their savings.
And the federal government has just confirmed they will rethink their GP co-payment plan, which would have hit a lot of us hard.
We have to take these small wins wherever we can get them!
From John & The FiftyUp Club team
