What are Australians looking for in health insurance?

When it comes to choosing a health insurance policy, value for money is one of the key things Aussies look for, and it was an important factor in determining the winner of Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers – Health Insurer Award this year.

With Australian households facing ongoing pressures thanks to the rising cost of living, it seems that many of us are thinking about how to make our money go as far as possible.

Health insurance, while optional, is a priority for many of us, and there’s certainly a peace of mind that comes with knowing you and your loved ones are covered.

This year, we surveyed 2,968 health insurance policyholders, and asked them to rate their overall satisfaction with their provider, as well as their satisfaction in five key areas:

1. Value for money
2. Comprehensiveness of cover
3. Customer service
4. Communication
5. Cost of premiums.

Value for money came out on top this year as the most important factor in determining overall satisfaction, ahead of comprehensiveness of cover, which came in second.

In line with Canstar’s Customer Satisfaction Award methodology, only providers who received more than 30 responses and are open for anyone to join are considered for the award.

This year, 14 providers made the cut, with one winner standing out, according to its members.

Health Partners wins the Award for a fourth year

This year, Health Partners won the Award, having the most satisfied customers overall. This win is all the more impressive given that it’s the fourth consecutive year that Health Partners has taken out the top spot.

Our survey showed that Health Partners scored highly in terms of providing value for money, and also performed particularly strongly in the areas of customer service and communication, keeping members up to date with important information.

How satisfied are Australians with their health insurer?

Canstar’s research revealed some interesting findings in terms of how satisfied Aussies are with their health insurance provider, particularly when broken down by age and location.

Older people are most satisfied with their health insurer

Our survey found that people aged 70 and over were most satisfied with their health insurance provider in 2022, with customer service and comprehensiveness of cover proving the most important factors to them.

People in the 40–49 age group were the least satisfied with their provider on average, especially when it came to the cost of premiums, which they ranked lowest of all the categories.

Tasmania has the most satisfied customers around Australia

When broken down state by state, Tasmania had the most satisfied customers overall, whereas people from the ACT reported being the least satisfied with their health insurance cover.

It is worth keeping in mind that these findings are based on averages from people who responded to Canstar’s customer satisfaction survey, and that the majority of those who responded came from more populous states such as NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

Here’s how health insurance policyholders across Australia’s states and territories ranked their satisfaction level overall, from most to least satisfied:

1. Tasmania
2. Western Australia
3. Queensland
4. New South Wales
5. South Australia
6. Victoria
7. ACT.

Policyholders from the Northern Territory were not included in the results, as there was not a sufficient sample size. To learn more about how Canstar’s Customer Satisfaction Awards work, you can read the methodology.

Cover image source: Evgeny Atamanenko/Shutterstock.com.