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A GROWING number of hospital patients are using private health insurance, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data suggests.
But not at Bendigo Health.
A spokeswoman for the health care group said the private patient cohort had been consistent since the 2014 financial year, accounting for about 14 per cent of admissions.
Overall admissions rose by about five per cent during that time, to more than 30,000.
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On a national scale, the AIHW report showed the number of patients who used private health insurance to fund their hospital admission rose by an average of 5.5 per cent each year in the five years to 2015-16.
By comparison, public patient admissions increased by an average of 2.9 per cent each year.
“Bendigo bucked the trend,” the Bendigo Health spokeswoman said.
“We are not seeing that at Bendigo Health.”
Public patients still accounted for the bulk of public hospital admissions in 2015-16.
Eighty-three per cent of people – or 5.2 million – were recorded as public patients.
About 872,000 people – or 14 per cent of public hospital patients – opted to use their private health insurance to cover some or all of their admission costs.
Almost 60 per cent of the 10.6 million admissions to hospital in Australia in 2015-16 were in public hospitals.
But private hospital admissions are on the rise, increasing by an average of 3.7 per cent each year in comparison to 3.3 per cent in the public sector.
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Elective surgery waiting lists might be a factor, with the Admitted patient care 2015-16: Australian hospital statistics report highlighting a “significant variation” on waiting time based on funding sources and surgery types.
“Public patients had a median waiting time of 42 days for elective surgery in a public hospital, while it was 20 days for patients who used private health insurance to fund all or part of their admission,” AIHW spokesman George Bodilsen said.
Australian Private Hospitals Association chief executive officer Michael Roff said access to public hospital services was supposed to be on the basis of need, not the ability to pay.
“The fact that private patients are jumping the queue in public hospitals is certainly against the spirit, if not the letter, of the National Healthcare Reform Agreement,” he said.
“To force a patient with a serious heart condition to wait twice as long as an insured patient based on the hospital’s ability to claim an insurance benefit is outrageous.
“Australians expect much more from their health system than that.”
Mr Roff said the long waits for elective surgery would had a flow-on effect on people’s quality of life.
“Waiting more than four months, the median wait time for hip surgery, will mean patients are living with pain and limited movement, while public hospitals push the insured through the system in little over a month,” he said.
About 46 per cent of the Australian population had private hospital cover in the first quarter of 2017, while 43.9 per cent of Victorians were insured.
However, research commissioned by comparison service iSelect found 5 per cent of people had cancelled their policy and 15 per cent had downgraded in the 12 months prior to March.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data also shows a decline in the proportion of Australians with private health insurance, which was 47.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.
Health insurance premiums rose by an average of 4.84 per cent on April 1, following an increase of an average of 5.59 per cent in 2016.
St John of God Bendigo hospital was contacted for comment.