Health Insurance

Taking out health insurance is basically a gamble. You’re putting your coins in the slot every week or month, hoping it’ll be worth your while in the end.

Be grateful we haven’t got to this point

There are no flashing lights, and there’s a good chance your investment will only pay off if something goes seriously wrong. 

The same principle applies for home and contents, income insurance, pet insurance, and all the other types of insurance daytime television pushes with sincerely concerned smiles and emotion-laden arguments. You might die and leave your family impoverished. So give us your money instead.

Continue reading "Running for cover in the health insurance debate" »

Bronwyn Bishop’s attack in yesterday’s Punch on the Government’s proposed means testing of the private health insurance rebate claims that people earning less than $50,000 will be the worst off. This is completely false.

People earning $50,000 or less will be among the 8 million health insurance policy holders that will not be affected by means testing at all. They won’t lose a dollar. Mrs Bishop should stop scaring pensioners.

Currently all families and individuals who pay private health insurance premiums are eligible for a rebate of at least 30 per cent on the cost of their insurance. It doesn’t matter how much you earn, you still receive the rebate. That money comes from the taxes of every working Australian. At the moment the same people that Bronwyn Bishop claims to care about are subsidising the rebate being paid to millionaires. They’re subsidising her private health insurance rebate and mine.

Continue reading "Counterpunch: Means testing is about fairness" »

Tanya Plibersek has flagged the re-introduction of legislation to means test the private health insurance rebate. This is Labor’s third try. It has been defeated twice.

Peter Slipper has voted twice against this legislation, presumably believing as does the rest of the Opposition, of which he was a part, that it is bad legislation for his constituents. Tony Windsor has voted against it twice and remained consistent but Rob Oakeshott only once. 

On the last vote he caved into Labor. This was interesting because Mr Oakeshott in his seat of Lyne has more people over 50 years, as well as over 60 years, than any other seat in Australia. 57,220 of his constituents are over 50, of which 38,481 are over 60. He has once voted to protect them and vote down the miserable means test but what will he be offered/threatened/cajoled by Gillard this time?

Continue reading "Labor’s mean-spirited attack on our most vulnerable" »

If I’m going to subsidise your homeopathic treatment, I want you to subsidise my red wine. At least there is some evidence the wine may have health benefits.

Insurance is basically a controlled gamble. I pay my monthly fees and hope one day I get a terrifically chronic disease that makes it all worthwhile. Then all those suckers I’ve been subsidising with my rude good health will get what’s coming.

We all hate paying insurance, so more people should be incensed that a portion of the money goes on… well, incense. Aromatherapy, along with other feel-good, do-nothing therapies. (Actually, compared to homeopathy, aromatherapy’s practically penicillin.)

Continue reading "Yet another whack at those dastardly quacks" »

On April 1, health insurance premiums rose across the board by an average of 5.56 per cent. The increase happens every year, while the percentage that premiums increase by differs. This year’s increase, according to research by iSelect, equates to around five million baskets of groceries or eight million tanks of petrol. It would also be enough to buy groceries for 100,000 families for a year. In individual dollar terms it works out to an average annual increase in premiums of $190 per family.

So last week I did a number of radio interviews, talking about the increase and suggesting ways that consumers can try to reduce their personal cost while making sure that they have appropriate cover. And one question that I was asked (fortunately off-air, because it took me aback a little) was whether I thought it was fair that everyone – regardless of size or health – paid the same premium.

It’s a version of a question that I’ve been asked a number of times: Should health insurance should be medically underwritten. In other words, should the overweight, underweight, smokers and otherwise-unhealthy among us be paying more for their health insurance? The crux of the reasoning, of course, being that the healthy consumers in the population are paying more than their fair share of premiums. And that’s not fair, right?

Continue reading "Are healthy people ripped off by health insurance?" »