Why are my health insurance premiums going up?

We've had a few queries recently about why health cover premiums continue toincrease, so we thought we'd shared these insights with you.

What isa premium?
Apremium is the amount of money you pay for your health insurance. It reflectsthe cost of health treatments, the number of claims that are made, and themanagement of your policy by your health insurer.

Whataffects the cost of premiums?
Premiumsare affected by the rising number and cost of health insurance claims. Theimpacts are increased costs for treatment and medical equipment, a greaterrange of procedures available, and increases in the number of proceduresperformed.

Premiumsare also infuenced by other factors, such as whether you smoke, your gender andyour age.

Someexamples of common procedures and the increase in both frequency and cost ofthe past 10 years are as follows:
      

• The frequency ofchemotherapy procedures has increased by 715% and radiology procedures by 147%
• The cost of hipreplacements has increased from $13,783 to $21,018 (52% increase)
• And the removal ofsimple skin lesion has increased from an average of $742 to $2,214 (198%) 

Howeverregardless of increasing costs, what's more important to understand, and know,is what plan you have in place to protect yourself and loved ones in the eventof sickness and illness. 

For moreinformation, give us a call on 0508 THE MARSHALL (0508 843 627).