A number of health insurers increased their premiums on 1 October, an increase that many funds had delayed for six months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although some insurers did cancel their scheduled premiums increases entirely this year, on average premiums went up by 2.92%. They are set for another hike in April 2021.
Health insurance premiums have been increasing steadily for some time. As the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) recently highlighted, premiums have been increasing more rapidly than incomes over the past decade.
While price is undoubtedly an important factor when selecting a health insurance policy, it’s also important to make sure you are getting good value for money in terms of a policy’s inclusions and coverage. As part of Canstar’s Health Insurance Awards, our researchers analysed 2,904 hospital policies, 2,900 extras policies and 8,062 packaged hospital and extras policies. Providers were assessed based on their policies’ cost and features across hundreds of consumer profiles.
Canstar’s Health Insurance Awards recognise one insurer per policy type in each state and territory considered and up to three insurers nationally based on their overall performance across all profiles.
How were health insurance policies assessed?
Canstar Research analysed policies based on both price and features. For the price score, Canstar looked at the net cost of each policy – that is, the policy’s premium (less any age-based discounts or government rebate applicable) plus any excess or out-of-pocket costs payable. The features score was mainly determined by the policy’s inclusions, with a weighting applied based on the consumer profile.
Canstar recognises that consumers have different needs when it comes to choosing their health insurance policy. Because of this, our methodology takes into account a range of needs based on a consumer’s life stage, family structure, gender and level of coverage (known as profiles).
For more information on how Canstar’s Health Insurance Awards are determined, view the methodology report.
Health Insurance Award Winners – National
The following providers (listed in alphabetical order) have received Canstar’s National Outstanding Value Health Insurance Award for 2020.
Bupa
This is the 13th year in a row that Bupa has won this Award. Bupa also picked up state Awards in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.
HCF
HCF has won the national Award for the fifth consecutive year. HCF also won state awards in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia.
Medibank
This is the 13th year in a row that Medibank has received this Award.
Canstar’s Research team noted that all winners generally boasted competitive premiums, a wide range of features and well-rounded performance across all states in Hospital, Extras and Package profiles.
Health Insurance Award Winners – State/Territory
The following insurers received Canstar’s state and territory-based Outstanding Value Health Insurance Awards for 2020 for their hospital, extras or packaged hospital and extras policies.
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If you are comparing health insurance, you might also want to read about our 2020 Most Satisfied Customers – Health Insurer Award. Canstar’s Customer Satisfaction Awards are based on how content customers are with their provider and complement the Star Ratings and Awards calculated by our expert researchers.
This article was reviewed by our Sub Editor Tom Letts and Finance Editor Sean Callery before it was published, as part of our fact-checking process.
Main image source: Jacob Lund (Shutterstock).
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