Private Health Insurance Rebate News

One vital fact that you should be aware of - if you don't know already - is that health insurance premiums are going to increase by an average of 5.6 per cent this April.

This premium increase is attributed to factors such as hospital staff wages and the cost of medical equipment and technology.

The federal government is proposing changes to the rebate on private health insurance, which Private Healthcare Australia (PHA) says will mean millions of Australians will have to pay more for their private health cover or wait longer for care.

More Australians are said to be members of health funds than any time in the past 37 years, with federal health minister Tanya Plibersek stating that Tony Abbott's predictions about people abandoning private health insurance were wrong.

Thousands of people who prepaid their private health insurance to keep their 30 per cent government rebate before it became means-tested in July, may be in for a big shock.

One of Australia's biggest health insurers has warned that these customers may face price rises of 50 per cent next year.

No government rebate and insurers' annual price increase could incur the 50 per cent rise in costs for those who had just prepaid their health insurance says the managing director of Bupa Richard Bowden.