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NewsOlder Aussies saved an average $375^ on Health Insurance by shopping around
Older Aussies saved an average $375^ on Health Insurance by shopping around

Older Aussies saved an average $375^ on Health Insurance by shopping around

Tags: Health Insurance
Last updated by Kayley Harris on

For the first time ever I considered dropping out of private health cover this week. A massive unexpected bill put a lot of stress on my finances and, like many single women, I don’t have a huge savings buffer in place. 

It seems I’m not alone. An estimated 10,000 Australians each month are either cutting or quitting private health insurance, according to a recent article in The Australian.

But there is some hope for the over-50s, with a comparison service that targets older policyholders claiming it saved 100 older customers an average of $375^ on their premium last year.

We’ve teamed up with HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au to see what they can save our members:

Founder Jonathan Leane says “Health insurance is an overwhelming and expensive endeavour, and for many Aussies, they are paying exorbitantly high premiums for cover they will never use. For example, many couples with children who have left the nest are still paying for Family Cover.”

It’s all personalised too. When you first arrive at HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au you’ll be asked for some basic details like your family type and home state. The system then searches its extensive database of policies to show you policies targeted to your needs, side by side so you can make an informed choice.

Since launching, thousands of Australians have already jumped on board. Over 20,000 Australians used HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au to compare health insurance in March this year, for example, citing saving money as their number one reason for using the site.

It’s worthwhile to remember that the government operates a free site with no strings attached, privatehealth.gov.au, if you want to see every policy on the market. But the government website won’t answer your questions over the phone, which is where commercial comparison sites have an advantage.

One of the main complaints that many of us have is the difficulty in comparing policies. Former Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley introduced a Private Health Committee to look into the issue after discovering there are 40,000+ policies available.

Many sites claim to help you compare but some of those sites have been the subject of scrutiny from the ACCC.

Australians want to be able to easily find, understand, and compare information so they can make informed decisions, particularly older Australians.

Between now and 2050 the number of older people (65–84) will more than double and the number of very old people (85 and over) will more than quadruple, from 0.4 million today to 1.8 million in 2050.

During that period, real health spending on people aged over 65 will increase seven-fold and spending on those aged over 85 years will increase around twelve-fold.

The good news is that the number of insured persons aged over 65 was 1.65 million representing 50.1% of the Australian population aged over 65.

The bad news is Private Healthcare Australia is predicting that private cover was forecast to become too expensive for a fifth of existing policy holders in the next 5 years.

Here at the Club, we recommend you try a service such as HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au before you drop out of the system altogether.

Or you can always check out the Club’s member offer with HCF at this link.

Click here to see what you can save with HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au

 

^ Savings figure is based on data from 100 customers of Choosewell/HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au, analysis conducted Jan-Mar 2016. 

 

 

 

Originally posted on .

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Older Aussies saved an average $375^ on Health Insurance by shopping around

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Barry
Barry from WA commented:

Thanks Health Insurance Comparison, you saved us over $100 a month. It can be done! Barry, WA 

Barry
Barry from WA commented:

Thanks Health Insurance Comparison, you saved us over $100 a month It can be done! Barry, WA 

margaret
margaret from NSW commented:

Keyley, some months ago you told us of the unbelievably huge amount you paid each month on your collection of insurance policies. I can not remember the amount but it seemed close to 50% of all I have to live on for the month. Even though you are a single mother you would appear to have a reasonable income. You may need help with your financial planning, or just sit down and reassess your spending. Often it is not that a person does not scrimp on a few items but rather t they do not have a clear over view of their total finances. There are people who could not live on $500,000 per year and are now sitting in prison because they tried to remedy their tight financial situation by committing corporate crime. Others could have their income increased each year by 10 times the rate of inflation and still would not manage. Some times it is just a need to have a realistic look at where the money is going ..all of it....By the way, the top of page says 311,611 members yet rarely do we get more then a few hundred voting on a subject and not many topics for discussion get more than 4-8 comments. "Where have all the members gone, long time passing, when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn"? 

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