Regularly switching private health insurance providers every 3-6 months - pros and cons
Are there any disadvantages of switching to a new private health insurance fund every 3-6 months to take advantage of signup deals?
Scenario:
Hospital Gold and Extras top cover
Switching to new fund at the same level.
Usually 6-8 weeks free.
I’ve started churning PHI. Maybe it’s just my bad luck but the last two times wasn’t a straightforward process. Had to constantly chase old and new fund to get the transfer certificate because old fund kept claiming they hadn’t received the request from the new fund and it wasn’t their problem.
Email the new fund the transfer certificate. Simple.
See direct email addresses here: https://privatehealthcareaustralia.org.au/resources/fund-res…
Be firm but polite with them and always escalate via complaints and Ombudsman process if they stuff you around. One whiff of runaround, lodge complaint.
Use email rather than phone. I ignore their calls and always revert to email.
Thats not your only problem
These health funds are not silly
Lots of benefits have waiting periods.
And dental benefits have annual limits that increase with time.
Furthermore eventually you will run out of health funds and thats when they catch up with what you are up to.
Health insurance churning is only short-term gain with long term pain.
And dental benefits have annual limits that increase with time
That's a retention tool — so when you phone and want to leave they say, 'Oh, that's one of our old plans and you'll lose your extra dental'. It seems that you have fallen for this retention tactic.
You will save much more by churning than you ever would by staying and waiting for your 'increased benefits'.
Furthermore eventually you will run out of health funds and thats when they catch up with what you are up to.
There is nothing for them to 'catch up with'. They run and control the promotions and welcome new customers with open arms.
I have churned for years and have not yet, 'run out of health funds'.
Health insurance churning is only short-term gain with long term pain.
Wrong.
Ensure you are getting all the services
Paging @YesPleaseThankYou as he seem to be the most experienced in churning PHI.
Hopefully this thread will be worth subscribing to. Super keen to get on this bandwagon
Cheers.
The questions asked by the OP are not novel. For someone with a bit of time, go through my responses to other health insurance threads — it's all been asked and answered before.
Who knows, perhaps an insurer will no longer want to insure you or your premiums might go up.
They can't do that in Australia.
@Aureus is correct.
An insurer can only refuse you for reasons stipulated in law and in each fund's fund rules.
Take advantage of an insurer's promotional offer is not a reason to not insure you. In fact, when you take advantage of a promotional offer, you are doing precisely what the insurer wants you to do.
Here’s my experience
Pro: the euphoric high that can only be achieved through the relentless pursuit of bargains
Con: Linda leaves because the pursuit of bargains consumes every aspect of your life
YMMV. Linda please come back
@linda - why?
Whos linda? I only know karen
Linda is Karen’s mother in law
sad story
Linda leaves because the pursuit of bargains consumes every aspect of your life
Ultimate bargain status achieved 🥲
By switching every 6 months, you are always a new customer. This means for any hospital claim you make in the first 12 months, your new insurer has the right to stop everything and investigate if signs or symptoms existed before you joined. So if you suddenly need surgery, you may have to pay for everything upfront and then chase them for reimbursement while your insurer takes their sweet time to investigate it as a pre-existing condition.
There are portability rules
Portability is irrelevant to the risk I'm talking about.
It doesn't stop an insurer from freezing your claim while they investigate you as a new member. It doesn't pay your upfront hospital bill, and it doesn't speed up their paperwork.
That's the actual risk of churning.
while they investigate you as a new member
Sound like there might be something to investigate with you. Is there?
The maximum waiting period for any clinical category in hospital cover is 12 months. Supply 12 months' worth of transfer certificates and you're good to go.
There is nothing for them to investigate. You are just making up pretend problems.
You are wrong.
you have to ensure the transfer certificate is accurate with no errors. . Medibank refused to tell me why my loading was set back to ten years in spite of repeated emails and calls. Customer service woeful if there is a problem. Especially at the top of the management. Had to get the ombudsman involved. Also the livebetter points free $200 premium. you have to wait 12 months to use it again.
you have to ensure the transfer certificate is accurate with no errors
Like any document issued to you, you should ensure that it is accurate.
I had issues with Medibank correcting my transfer certificate too. Agree customer service is terrible and escalation was the only way to resolve it.
The con is you need 12months period of transfer certificates every time you join a new fund so they can see you've passed the waiting period for items which require it.
Not a con.
I recommend keeping your own records — it's not that hard. See https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/15120488/redir
I guess it's not a con if you enjoy admin and filing for fun.
END
@YesPleaseThankYou: Bupa didn't give me a digital one when I left. Had to wait for the physical, scan and save.
Switching PHI is not as seamless as NBN or prepaid sims.
I do it once a year.
I do it 5 to 6 times a year and save approximately 58% off my premiums.
Health insurance is a significant expense. There's no way I'm giving an insurer 1¢ more than I have to.
put that time into increasing your income bro
Doesn't take much time at all. Income is good — thanks for your concern :)
The amount of phone calls back and forth I have to make when I try to claim extras is a joke. Changed providers went for a filling, was told I was not eligible for a rebate as transfer certificate was incorrect. My time is worth more than the couple hundred dollars you might save every 6 months. YMMV
maybe one day the whole process is automated like switching mobile phone provider(keep number)
We can only hope.
In this case, couldn't you leave Extras with one provider, and churn only Hospital cover?
This is what I do - I find it quite difficult to compare Extras (differences between cover limits for different items), but hospital is generally the same (is it covered, private/public hospital, excess and price).
The deals aren't as good (e.g. at the moment only HIF and AIA offer 4 weeks free after 90/120 days vs combined cover getting 6-8wks free from quite a few providers) but I accept this because it's easier.
Is it more expensive to have separate covers?
Generally, yes. Most of the promotions require you to take up hospital and extras, together.
The price of the covers themselves don't seem to differ (i.e. there isn't a discount for having both with the same provider), but the promos are definitely difference
The deals aren't as good (e.g. at the moment only HIF and AIA offer 4 weeks free after 90/120 days vs combined cover getting 6-8wks free from quite a few providers)
In the last 2.5 years ive had Frank, Bupa, NIB, HCF and i will change the next decent deal comes out, i only have PHI to avoid the extra tax i do have basic extra but itbis because you usually need to have both hospital + extras to milk the sign on bonus (ie free weeks)
The only issue i really had was NIB who kept chasing me to pay them the Free weeks back but otherwise it is a fairly seemless process most places will waive the waiting periods on promotions as well
In years of churning, I have never seen a compelling NIB (or related brand) offer.
They had 10 weeks free
I follow promotions very carefully. Almost certainly there would have been a better deal than NIB.
Eg with the 10 weeks free, you very likely had to wait too long to get those weeks (by 'too long' I mean when compared with other promos).
Why bother with the effort for minimal savings? Are you really gaining that much?
Yeah minimal effort isn't really worth saving thousands.
I’ve always chased the cheapest premiums, never needed or used PHI. Always annoyed about the scummy and scammy way they operate.
Then my wife got cancer. PHI is hundreds of thousands in the red from us now- maybe even millions (I know the radiation balls she had inserted into her liver coat about 200k for the therapy alone, not including all the private hospital stuff!) so I have lost focus on caring about the cost. I feel NIB were reasonable and did not charge us literally any out of pocket costs. My limited time on this earth has better things to do (like raising my kids and just being with them!). I will churn if there is a significant saving, but that’s rare.
I’ve even ended up in hospital for a week very unexpectedly. Not sure what it would’ve cost me without PHI, but I’m sure I got value there too. FWIW, my wife was 36 when diagnosed/39 when she died, and I’m now 40. None of it was expected or pre-existing.
But, I’m going to reassess it all, given I’m with NIB and still paying for my late wife. If reading all the posts about it show me it’s worth the time, I’ll add it to my regular admin list.
Sorry for your loss. It's reassuring to hear that NIB provided service that didn't make an already tough time even more stressful.
You are costing yourself coverage. just pick one.
You are also wrong.
slightly off but related topic, if you are on a higher cover now, and when the new year rolls over, what's stopping you using all the higher cover/limits in the first few months of the year, then switch to lower cover within the same insurance company?
any cons of doing that?
What are the sign up deals that you get?