Millions of Australians with private health insurance are missing notices informing them that their premiums are set to increase.
Around 18% of Australians, equivalent to 2.7m people, say they always miss their notices from their health fund about premium increases, either because they do not read the message or mistake it for marketing material, revealed new research from Money.com.au, a consumer-first financial comparison platform.
Most health funds issue their premium increase notices this month ahead of the 1 April price adjustments, which will see premiums rise by an average of 4.41%, which will be the largest increase since 2017.
While insurers are legally required to notify members in writing of annual premium hikes, there is no mandated timeframe for sending these notices. Policyholders must simply be given “sufficient time” to review their coverage or consider switching providers.
Under the Private Health Insurance Code of Conduct, however, most health funds voluntarily commit to providing at least 30 days’ notice of any policy price changes.
The nationally representative survey found that 38% of Australians receive their health fund’s premium increase notice more than a month before the changes take effect each April. Another 36% receive between two and four weeks’ notice, while 8% report getting less than two weeks’ warning before their premiums rise.
Their research also found that younger Australians are the most likely to miss notifications about private health insurance premium increases.
According to the survey, 25% of Gen Z policyholders say they always miss their fund’s premium increase notice: the highest proportion of any generation. This compares with 20% of Gen X, 17% of millennials and 13% of baby boomers.