iSelect Health Pulse 2024

Does staying loyal to your health insurance pay off?

Australians are a loyal bunch when it comes to health insurance

After surveying 1,532 Australians aged 18 years and older who make the decisions when it comes to their health insurance, we learned many of them have had the same policies or been with the same provider for years.¹

Average policy and provider loyalty –
and how long it’s really been

Is loyalty still a virtue in a cost-of-living crisis?

Few of us are strangers to cutting costs these days. Often this means going without, like no more cheeky Friday night takeaways or Kmart splurges. However, this may not need to be the case for you and your health insurance. In fact, if you’re a shrewd switcher, you may be able to even stay covered and have some spending money to spare.

Helpful tip

There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to determining your premium. However, tweaking your excess, co-payments, and cover could help you shape your annual health insurance spend into something you (and your wallet) like better.

Similarly, don’t forget that health insurance plays a role at tax time. Depending on your eligibility, you may be able to get a rebate on your premium, as well as skip the Medicare Levy Surcharge.

Andres Gutierrez

Health General Manager

The main reasons to switch health insurance for those who had done so in the last 12 months were to get better value or a cheaper deal.

Conversely, reasons given for not switching were a lack of confidence that they would save by doing so, that switching was too much effort, or that they didn’t have enough time.

But it wasn’t just switching that made a difference;
how Australians switched mattered too

Savings and how our Aussies planned to use theirs

Anyone would be happy to see this amount of cash land in their bank account. The question then is what to do with it?

Victorians are more likely than Queenslanders to put savings towards dining out, food delivery, and entertainment.

Overall, the majority of our surveyed group spent the savings they made on switching health insurance on groceries or further savings. That doesn’t really come as a shock given the current cost-of-living crisis. However, 23% did also set some aside for a holiday.

Those who made the switch on family policies prioritised rent or mortgage payments, followed by childcare.

Switching is about more than savings

Getting value out of your health insurance could be a bigger priority for you and your family than a lower annual premium.

Take for instance the almost four in 10 of our surveyed Australians with hospital cover who claimed for an in-hospital procedure or treatment in the last 12 months. Their health insurance meant they weren’t left waiting long to be seen.

Savings are just one incentive to get switching. However, finding a policy you can get value from is just as important. For instance, our surveyed Aussies were able to use their health insurance to claim for some seriously big surgeries and treatments that could potentially change their lives.

Hover over the icons to see how popular claims for different surgeries and treatments were.

Life changes; so should your health insurance

From moving out of home to starting a family to retiring, life has plenty of big changes in store for all of us. Setting and forgetting a health insurance policy could mean your health insurance doesn’t quite fit like it once did. Switching though could open up a world of possibilities.

Download

iSelect Health Pulse 2024 – Full Report²

Discover more insights from iSelect’s Health Pulse 2024

Generational Divide

Did you know you’re more likely to see psychology cover on a Millennial’s extras policy than on a Baby Boomer’s? Discover what each generation prioritises in their health insurance and more.

Men vs. Women

Forget who takes the longest to get ready to go out or who is the safer driver; iSelect’s Health Pulse sheds light on men and women’s differences when it comes to health insurance, including cover preferences, switching behaviour and expected savings.

iSelect does not compare all health insurance providers or policies in the market. The availability of policies will change from time to time. Not all policies available from its providers are compared by iSelect and due to commercial arrangements, your stated needs and circumstances, not all policies compared by iSelect are available to all customers. Some policies and special offers are available only from iSelect’s contact centre or website. Click here to view iSelect’s range of providers.

iSelect commissioned YouGov Galaxy Pty Ltd to conduct a national online survey between 15 and 21 July 2024. The sample is n=1,532 Australians aged 18 years and older who have private health insurance and are the main or joint decision maker for their cover. The survey results were weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS population estimates.

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1.
iSelect commissioned YouGov Galaxy Pty Ltd to conduct a national online survey between 15 and 21 July 2024. The sample is n=1,532 Australians aged 18 years and older who have private health insurance and are the main or joint decision maker for their cover. The survey results were weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS population estimates.
2.
iSelect commissioned YouGov Galaxy Pty Ltd to conduct a national online survey between 15 and 21 July 2024. The sample is n=1,532 Australians aged 18 years and older who have private health insurance and are the main or joint decision maker for their cover. The survey results were weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS population estimates.