The Federal Government has introduced a new tiered system of private hospital insurance which will begin rolling out from 1 April, 2019. Under this new system health funds will have to classify hospital policies into four tiers – Gold, Silver, Bronze and Basic, by 1 April, 2020. Private health insurance is an important issue to many Australians, with 55 per cent of the
population covered by some form of private health insurance. We’ve seen our policy premiums rise sharply over the years with more exclusions and gaps introduced. Many policies have become ‘junk’ status and not even worth having. It’s important that we review what policy cover we currently have and how this change may affects us.

The new tiers should, in theory, make choosing a policy simpler, however Choice  says that insurers could label their products as ‘Plus’, creating more categories; literally billions of versions of potential policies. The reforms may not reduce product confusion.

The federal government has created a factsheet to explain what treatments are included in Gold, Silver, Bronze and Basic policies. It’s good to examine your policy changes with your insurer and shop around.