04
May
2022
|
19:28
Australia/Melbourne

Ramsay seeking to increase its value at the expense of private health insurance members

Summary

Bupa is extremely disappointed at the approach taken by Ramsay Health Care Australia to terminate its contract with Bupa’s four million health insurance members.

During our negotiations in the past few months, Ramsay has sought unreasonably high rates of increase, which would result in a sizeable premium increase for customers.

Bupa Health Insurance Managing Director Chris Carroll said: “Ramsay’s refusal to negotiate in any meaningful manner arguably reflects a desire to increase the value of their business, which is currently the subject of a private equity backed takeover offer.

“Today’s decision by Ramsay is an affront to Australians who are facing growing cost of living pressures. Bupa is acting to support its members during this challenging time. We have already delayed our annual price increase by six months, to ease the pressure on families. This will bring our total support to members to more than $460m since the start of the pandemic.

“The important thing for our members to know is nothing changes in the next 90 days; if you’re booked in for an operation you will still be covered during that period. After that period, the choice to charge members an out-of-pocket cost will be a decision made by Ramsay as Bupa intends to continue paying its current rates, which are above the statutory default rates.

“We will continue negotiating with Ramsay for a fair and reasonable rate of increase on behalf of our members, as we want health insurance to remain affordable for Australians - all parts of the health system, including hospital groups such as Ramsay, have a key role to play in keeping costs down,” Mr Carroll said.

“We will be communicating with our members and doctors to keep them informed of any updates.”

More information and what this means for customers is available here while information on what this means for providers can be found here.