Premium reductions a priority for Southern Cross

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 The pressure on health insurance premiums - and how to reduce them - dominated the Southern Cross Medical Care Society annual general meeting this week.

Friday, December 9th 2011, 4:01PM

Southern Cross members voted in favour of two resolutions to investigate ways loyalty of longstanding members may be recognised, and if those members premiums could be reduced. The meeting also discussed current strategies by Southern Cross to manage claims cost - such as the Affiliated Provider programme.

"The Society's board and management recognise the huge pressure that health insurance premiums can put on retired people on fixed incomes," said chairman Graeme Hawkins.

"Those members are saying that at a time in their lives when they most need healthcare they are finding it very difficult to pay for it."

Southern Cross has held talks with various Government ministers about the idea of a tax rebate for those aged 65 years and over - a policy the Health Funds Association (HFANZ) has also been lobbying Government on.

Southern Cross has also advocated removing fringe benefit tax (FBT) from premiums paid by corporate groups, another measure backed by HFANZ.

"The message our older members are sending us, and the Government, is that something needs to happen to prevent more people giving up their health insurance and falling back on the public health system. This issue is not one that will go away - especially as our country's population ages," Hawkins said.

His comments were echoed by HFANZ chief executive Roger Styles, who said "This pressure is adding to the case for a rebate for the over-65s who hold on to their health insurance."

Southern Cross has also recently called for the creation of a KiwiSaver-style health savings fund and possible industry regulation to change how premiums are calculated, as happens in Australia.

Hawkins also argued that a strong private sector is essential to relieving the strain on public provision.

"The Government provided elective surgery to 138,000 patients in the last year. They will have to continue providing these record numbers to stop waiting lists from ballooning," he said.

"And those 830,000 Southern Cross members who choose to insure play a huge part in keeping public waiting lists down. Southern Cross alone funded 158,000 elective surgeries in the last year. So a strong private sector is essential to a strong public sector."

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