With the financial year about to expire, health insurance providers are pulling out all stops to grab your money, offering sweeteners such as gift vouchers and frequent flyer points.
But consumers are being urged to carefully consider their needs and scrutinise the fine print because even grabbing the most expensive policy doesn't guarantee the best coverage for services such as major dental.
For example, the monthly premium for top combined cover for a family of two adults and children in NSW with no excess ranges from $537 (Health Care Insurance) to $851 (Medibank), according to the government website PrivateHealth.gov.au.
HCI's policy covers major dental up to $3900 per person each year, while Medibank's policy, which is 60 per cent more expensive, only covers major dental up to $1600 per person each year.
"The onus is on Australians to check what is and isn't included in these policies, as well as how much value is received for each service, because there are major differences in cover details," said comparison website Finder's spokeswoman Michelle Hutchison.
"Don't think that the most expensive policies will cover you for everything as they could have some exclusions, like cosmetic surgery and assisted reproductive services."
Finder said its analysis found Australia's most expensive policy was HBF's top combined cover for two adults - 'ultimate hospital' - which attracts a monthly premium of a massive $1344. The policy covers major dental up to $1000 per person each year.
Finder found family policies with combined cover have the biggest range in premium costs, starting from $140 per month by Bupa Australia and going up to $1344 per month by HBF - a difference of $14,457 each year.
It also found policies for a single adult with combined cover ranged from $44 per month by ahm and $672 per month by HBF – a difference of $7542 each year.
"With over 50,000 variations of health insurance policies, it just goes to show how complex and multi-dimensional they are," said Ms Hutchison.
"Not only do they have different combinations of coverage types and levels, but they also differ between health funds, making it even harder for Australians to compare policies side by side."
In response to Finder's claims, HBF spokesman Andrew Walton said consumers should look at the percentage of the bill a product promises to give back on services such as dental to get a fuller picture of future costs.
"HBF 'ultimate hospital' ... is hands-down the best hospital cover in Australia and in most cases 100 per cent of your hospital bills will be covered," he said.
"For extras like general and major dental it promises a 90 per cent benefit, which is a high return by all standards."
Ahead of the July 2 federal election, the Coalition has promised to make health insurance simpler and easier to navigate. Labor has pledged to remove the health insurance rebate from "junk" policies that only cover public hospital treatment.
Gerard Fogarty, chief executive of Defence Health, said consumers in the market for a new policy sadly did not focus on the right things, such as the quality of the health care, better benefits and the 'gap payments' they might have to pay.
He said one way to assess a health fund was to look at how much money is paid in benefits to its members and how much is retained for management expenses and other matters, such as paying shareholder dividends.
The latest Operations of Private Health Insurers report by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows for every $1 received by the two largest health insurers Bupa and Medibank, about 85-86 cents went into providing health benefits.
"At Defence Health we don't have shareholders. That means for every $1 we receive in premium revenue, 95.2 cents goes towards providing benefits to members," said Mr Fogarty.
"The APRA report highlights what the funds do with the premiums paid by members. That's important information consumers should be aware of when making the decision to join or switch health fund."
In the final days of this financial year, both health funds and comparison websites are aggressively pushing their products and services, pointing to the Medicare Levy Surcharge and the Lifetime Health Cover loading as reasons to quickly sign up to a new policy.
Health funds are also offering sweeteners such as waived waiting periods, "one month free", gift vouchers, cashbacks and frequent flyer points.
"Ask what's the dollar value [of a gift voucher]? If it's more than $170 for a single, for example, you're probably better off than with 'one month free'," said David Liston from OurGo, the youth-focused arm of One Big Switch.
"[In regards to frequent flyer points] you'll have to be a very frequent flyer to get much value out of them. But it's a good offer for the jetsetter," he said.
"There will be hundreds of plans out there that are right for you so make sure you know what you want cover for and then compare the add-ons."
