Lifetime Health Cover

Private health insurance gives consumers more freedom when it comes to health care. As of 31 December 2017, 45.6 per cent of the Australian population were covered by hospital treatment insurance, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The APRA quarterly report shows that health insurance funds are returning the highest percentage of the premium back to members of all insurance types.

The Australian insurance and private health system is a complex beast, and you'd be forgiven for not knowing its ins and outs. However, regardless of where you live, who you are, and what you do, you should understand Lifetime Health Cover and how it could affect you.

When we're young we're kept occupied by university, career, relationships and everything else involved with the transition into adult life. Understandably, private health insurance in Australia often isn't a blip on our radars - but it should be.

Countless Australians don't concern themselves with private health insurance until they wish they had it. That may be because most believe that Medicare and the public system covers them for ambulance and emergency services as well as specialist care, according to a recent Pureprofile study.

If you have used your private health insurance (PHI), you'll understand how valuable it is. In fact, CEO of Private Healthcare Australia Dr Rachel David states that 84 per cent of people with PHI want to keep it, even though the average income of someone with a policy is under $50,000.

Have you recently looked at your private health plan and been disappointed? More than 5 million people reviewed their private health cover in the last 12 months, as stated in a Guardian Australia article from November 2016. As premiums rise but cover remains the same, people become less satisfied that they're getting what they're paying for. The next time your employees review their private health cover, a corporate health insurance could prove very useful.

Private health insurance is as much an emotional product as it is a medical or financial one. It could be the difference between a permanent injury and a temporary one, the policy that separates an easy fix from a long slog to recovery, and may very well be one of the most important pieces of paper you ever sign.

Understanding your private health insurance has long been a significant headache for Australians. Figuring out what you are covered for and, perhaps more importantly, what you aren't, can be a complex and time-consuming business for the average consumer.

With over 40,000 different kinds of private health cover available in Australia, it is understandable why it has become an important arena for the upcoming election.

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was once quoted as saying "Youth is the most beautiful thing in this world - and what a pity that it has to be wasted on the children". This phrase has now entered common parlance, though a little more concisely: "Youth is wasted on the young". There might be a certain truth to it too, but it is perhaps more telling of the power of hindsight rather than the behaviour of young Australians.

Australian private health insurance customers all over the country are tasked with protecting themselves with a level of cover that is both affordable and high quality.