Opinion
Brought to you by Australian Unity.
Health insurance is one of the most widely held financial products in Australia. It is also one of the least understood. Most of us know roughly what we pay each month, largely because we see the big bite the direct debit takes from our cashflow.
Far fewer of us know what we’re actually covered for, how the system is structured, or whether the fund we’re with is genuinely working in our interest. If you’re thinking about reviewing or switching your cover, (and if you’re in your 40s or 50s, you probably should be) here is what’s worth understanding before you do.
1. The tiers are a government framework, not marketing. The bronze, silver and gold hospital tiers aren’t created by the funds – they’re a government framework designed to make policies comparable across different insurers.
If a fund says you’re on a silver policy, it means the same set of clinical categories is covered as any other fund’s silver policy (or almost the same). Which means you can actually compare covers between funds with a reasonable level of parity.
What confuses people is the in-between products – the “silver plus” or “bronze plus” policies that add a few inclusions from the tier above to tempt you to upgrade. These exist because funds are allowed to add categories beyond the minimum, and many do to make their products marginally more appealing.
If you’ve held continuous hospital cover for years, switching funds is rarely as disruptive as you think it will be.
They’re not being dishonest, but they do make comparison from policy to policy harder. So, when you’re evaluating policies, look at the spec
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