The Federal Government will introduce changes to make Private Health Insurance simpler and more affordable.
The Government set up a Taskforce to work out the detail of these reforms. This Taskforce has finished its investigation. Among the recommendations is a proposed change that could reduce people’s access to implanted devices for hearing loss surgery.
What is being proposed?
From April 2019, all hospital treatment policies will be categorised into four groups – Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold – with Gold being the expensive policy covering the greatest number of procedures.
Each category will have minimum requirements for cover that must be included. They will also have to use standardised definitions for treatment to make it clear what is and what isn’t covered in policies.
The Taskforce has released a report on what it reckons should be the minimum coverage in each of the four categories. It recommends that Implanted devices for hearing loss surgery will only be covered by the Gold (top tier) category. This would mean people who don’t have a top tier policy may no longer be covered for cochlear implantation and replacement sound processors.
What are we doing?
Deafness Forum of Australia, and other organisations and individuals in the sector, have written to the Taskforce strongly opposing this proposal. We will provide updates in upcoming issues of One in Six.
What can you do?
The Federal Labor Opposition is also looking at the affordability of private health insurance. The Opposition has launched a national survey as the first stage of a consultation process on private health insurance costs. If you would like to have your say, visit www.peoplenotprofits.org.au