1 October 2022 Premiums FAQs
We’ll contact you to let you know if your premiums are changing from 1 October 2022.
You may recall that in April 2022 we deferred your premium increase for six months as part of our COVID-19 support measures.
As a not-for-profit health fund, we aim to ensure that your access to our health cover is as affordable as possible while we continue supporting our members’ health and wellbeing.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve returned approximately $5.4 million COVID 19 permanent claim savings to our members, proportional to the cover they have with us.
In total, we’ve provided support to members to the value of approximately $10.8 million since 2020 with our range of COVID-19 support packages including:
- A member permanent claim savings give-back of around $5.4 million directly to our members
- Postponing our premium increases from April 2020 to October 2020 and from April 2022 to October 2022
- New member benefits including telehealth services on our extras covers
- Adding health programs to all hospital covers
- COVID-related benefits
- Extra help for financially vulnerable members
You should have received information from us by now about any change to your membership payments from 1 April. You can find this in the Peoplecare secure inbox available on the Peoplecare mobile app and Online Member Services.
As a not-for-profit health fund, we only ever increase premiums to manage the rising cost of health care and ensure that we can continue to improve the value of your health cover.
We try to keep our costs down in other ways such as:
- closely monitoring your cover and looking for savings
- working with the Australian Health Service Alliance (AHSA) to have more bargaining power with hospitals and doctors
- working with industry bodies to lobby the Government for changes that make healthcare more affordable for everyone
If you’re wondering whether your cover is still right for you, our health cover experts are happy to talk you through your options and see if we can save you money. Call us on 1800 808 690 – we’re here to help.
Prepay in March 2023 (see dates below) and you won't have to pay this year's rate increase for the length of time you prepay for. You can prepay for up to 12 months. You can do this by:
- Credit or debit card – by 5pm, Friday 31 March 2023 (or before midnight on the app or Online Member Services)
- Direct debit – by Wednesday 29 March 2023
- BPAY – before your bank's close of business on Tuesday 28 March 2023
We only ever increase premiums by what it costs to pay claims and keep our fund running, and any increases we make have to be approved by the Government. This is the same for all health funds.
We can’t charge people less if they don’t use their cover and more if they do. This is a rule set by the Government to make sure that everyone has the same access to private health insurance (it’s called ‘community rating’).
You don’t need to start paying the new premium until your next payment is due. For example, if you’re paid up to 30 May 2023, you’ll start paying the new amount from 1 June 2023.
There are plenty of reasons private hospital cover is important. Things like:
- knowing you can have access to private hospitals with state-of-the-art facilities
- being able to choose your doctor
- not having to spend months (even years) on a public hospital waiting list by going into a private hospital
- if you earn over the threshold for Medicare Levy Surcharge (currently $90,000 for singles and $180,000 for families), you may save tax by not having to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge
- avoiding a Lifetime Health Cover loading (by having hospital cover before you turn 31)
When you think about health insurance it’s important to think about more than just the cost – it’s about giving you more choice for your healthcare, less time waiting for the services you need and (most importantly) the peace of mind to know that you’ll be looked after when you need it most.
You might be surprised by how much it costs to pay for a private hospital procedure without private hospital insurance. To give you an idea, these are the highest hospital costs for individual Peoplecare members we paid in the 2022 financial year:
| Top 5 hospital claims | |
|---|---|
| Admission reason | Total benefit paid |
| Digestive system | $132,339 |
| Heart and vascular system | $117,168 |
| Heart and vascular system | $96,586 |
| Heart and vascular system | $95,477 |
| Back, neck and spine | $87,459 |
We can help. We’re here for members in financial hardship. Call us on 1800 808 690 to talk about options for your personal situation.
No. We are a proud not-for-profit, member-owned fund. While we do aim to maintain a slight surplus so that we have a buffer to sustain us as a fund and enable us to pay the expensive claims, we look for opportunities to return large surpluses to our members through cash returns, keeping premiums as low as possible and by adding benefits.
Telehealth was introduced as a temporary way to claim extras benefits remotely. We’re proud to say that these benefits are here to stay. Telehealth consultations are a way to claim one-to-one video and phone consults, based on your existing extras cover benefits.
Claimable telehealth services include:
- physiotherapy
- occupational therapy
- psychology
- speech therapy
- dietetics
- exercise physiology (new)
Learn more about how to use telehealth benefits at peoplecare.com.au/alerts/covid19/telehealth.