Comparison sites blamed for health cover premium rises

Medibank chief executive David Koczkar has blamed health insurance comparison sites for high premiums, saying commissions have driven up premiums by as much as 30%.

According to a story in the Australian Financial Review, upfront commissions paid by insurers to aggregators were between 20% and 30% of the premium paid, Koczkar said. If an insurer did not pay a commission, it was not included in the search results.  

“Commercial arrangements and opaque commissions can influence what appears before consumers, how options are presented and which products or offers receive prominence,” he told the AFR. “Consumers may still benefit, but it would be wrong to say the model is completely objective or neutral.”

Not all comparison sites are influenced by commercial arrangements, however. healthslips.com.au shows users every policy from every insurer, without preference for insurers with commercial arrangements. Premiums quoted on the site are the same as those stated on Private Health Insurance Statements (provided to the government regulator by insurers) – ensuring prices were not inflated.

“If Australians are worried about commissions paid by insurers or biased results on health insurer comparison sites, they should use healthslips.com.au,” said healthslips.com.au Chief Operating Officer Sophie Bartho. “We’re proudly different to other operators – showing users all their options without bias, and they don’t have to enter their phone number or email address to get results.”

Read the full Australian Financial Review story.

Try the healthslips.com.au calculator for unbiased comparisons of health cover policies.

Trudie McConnochie

Writer and Researcher

Knowledge is power – that’s the guiding principle behind everything Trudie writes, and it’s a philosophy she brings to her work at healthslips.com.au. By breaking down complex information into easy-to-understand blogs and stories, she aims to empower Australians to make the best choices and an informed decision around private health insurance.

Trudie understands firsthand some of the complexity of private health insurance having moved to Australia from New Zealand and having to navigate a vastly different public healthcare system and health insurance structure.

Trudie holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies (journalism major) from the Auckland University of Technology.

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