This year’s increase to private health insurance premiums will see Australian families paying $200 a year more, hitting household budgets at a time of sky-high out-of-pocket health expenses under the Turnbull Government.

The $200 a year increase – confirmed in recent media reports – means that families will be paying around a total of $900 extra in annual premiums under the Abbott/Turnbull Government – that’s a 23 per cent increase in annual premiums.

The latest increase would put significant strain on families when the Government is already forcing them to pay more out of their own pocket for health.

Australians are paying more than ever for their private health insurance but they are getting less and less.

This $200 increase comes on top of some of the highest premium increases on record, spiralling complaints against private health insurers and Australians increasingly discovering they are simply not covered for basic inclusions in their policies.

Last financial year there were 4,416 complaints to the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, a 30 per cent increase in complaints under the Liberals, and it is now estimated that 40 per cent of all PHI policies have some form of exclusion.

Australians simply don’t feel they are getting value for their private health insurance under this Government. Despite the ever increasing cost of their private health insurance, people are finding they are not covered for things like pregnancy, cataract surgery, hip and knee replacements and heart surgery.

Quite simply, Malcolm Turnbull is ripping Australians off at every turn. Australians are paying more than ever to visit a GP, they are paying more than ever for private health insurance, and yet the Government is still refusing to lift the GP freeze and invest more in health.

Graham Perrett MP