The Australian Government announced on 13 October 2017 a wide ranging package of reforms to make private health insurance simpler and more affordable for Australians.

These include:

• requiring insurers to categorise products as gold/silver/bronze/basic, and use standardised definitions for treatments to make it clear what is and isn’t covered in their policies;
• upgrading the privatehealth.gov.au website to make it easier to compare insurance products, and allowing insurers to provide personalised information to consumers on their product every year;
• boosting the powers of the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman and increasing its resources to ensure consumer complaints are resolved clearly and quickly;
• reducing the benefits paid for implanted medical devices under an agreement with the Medical Technology Association of Australia;
• requiring insurers to allow people with hospital insurance that does not offer full cover for mental health treatment to upgrade their cover and access mental health services without a waiting period on a once-off basis;
• allowing insurers to discount hospital insurance premiums for 18 to 29 year olds by up to 10 per cent, with the discount phasing out after people turn 40;
• allowing insurers to expand hospital insurance to offer travel and accommodation benefits for people in regional and rural areas that need to travel for treatment;
• increasing the maximum excess consumers can choose under their health insurance policies for the first time since 2001;
• preventing insurers from offering benefits for a range of natural therapies, such as Bowen therapy or Rolfing; and
• continuing to support private hospitals, including transferring administration of the second tier default benefit, which provides a safety net for consumers attending non-contracted hospitals, to the Department of Health.

An exposure draft is due at the end of May 2018, with the legislation proposed to be passed in June 2018, so watch this space.