This week’s answer to the never-ending struggle is to lift health insurance premiums by an average 5.8 per cent, forcing central Victorian families to fork out about $200 more a year for coverage.

And while industry heavyweights point to a decline in the community’s trust in public hospitals as the prime motivation for the rising costs facing health funds, their customers are equally concerned that this latest rise is about double that of the inflation rate.

It’s a strange and convoluted argument that says we all pay more for health insurance because more people are joining private health funds and they are claiming more in benefits.

The Federal Government needs to look closely at what exactly is going on in the private health industry, because many taxpayers have in fact opted to join a fund because in reality they have little choice - pay up or pay more tax is the policy used to prompt thousands of Australians across into one of the myriad private health funds.

There’s a lot of confusion and disquiet about our public hospitals right across Australia, not all of it warranted, but the circumstance needs urgent attention and fixing.

Claims that more Australians are using their private health insurance to avoid waiting for treatment in the public hospital system means ultimately we all pay more, and then even more, but the sickness in the system that causes much of this price pressure goes untreated.

What do you think?

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