Third Fall In Health Insurance
The Age
Wednesday August 22, 2001
Private health insurance membership has dropped for the third consecutive quarter, with about 8000 Australians abandoning hospital insurance in the three months to the end of June.
Since the end of September last year, when coverage reached an all-time peak of 8.79 million Australians, about 78,000 people have dropped out of the private insurance system.
But federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge told parliament yesterday the latest figures from the Private Health Insurance Administration Council were good news and showed membership had stabilised.
In the December quarter - the first quarterly figures unaffected by the influx of members associated with Lifetime Health Cover - hospital insurance coverage dropped by about 47,000 people. In the March quarter, it dropped by about 23,000.
But the reduction in health insurance coverage is a small blip compared to the massive boost to membership between June, 1999 and September, 2000, when a staggering three million people joined up.
Russell Schneider, chief executive of the Australian Health Insurance Association, said the latest figures confirmed that the government's private health insurance initiatives, particularly the 30 per cent rebate and Lifetime Health Cover, were taking strain off Medicare and the public hospital system. -- DARREN GRAY
© 2001 The Age
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