A message from the CEO

When the Private Health Insurance Reforms were first announced by the Federal Government in October 2017, I welcomed proposed change that would make health insurance more affordable and simpler to understand – ultimately, I welcomed any changes that would be beneficial to our members.

While a lot has been done to address these areas, the complex nature of private health insurance means that implementing these reforms is not as simple as it sounds.

More than 20 reform measures have been announced by the Government, both with direct and indirect impacts on members. At Nurses & Midwives Health, our aim has been to ensure we minimise any detrimental impacts to our members.

To ensure we deliver on this, Nurses & Midwives Health has created a set of principles that are guiding us throughout the implementation process. Here, I’ll discuss what they mean and how Nurses & Midwives Health members will ultimately benefit.

At the end of the day, we may not have control over what the Government has mandated, but we can try our best to ensure our members are supported throughout the process.

Here are the principles that guide how we implement the Government’s Private Health Insurance Reforms. They have been formulated from the actions and behaviours we already display and restated for all Nurses & Midwives Health staff to remember and be guided by.

• Members are at the HEART of what we do

We are always thinking about how things will impact members – so when it comes to implementing the mandated reforms, our approach is designed to try and deliver the best outcome for most of our members.

• Members are the main part of the discussion

We’re talking to you along the way – making changes to private health insurance is complex, and we want to make sure you know what is happening, when it will happen and why.

• We’re about our members, not profit or returns to shareholders like the large insurers

We use a majority of the profit we make to support members and their health. We put profits to the best possible use for our members.

• We’re making decisions that make good financial sense

Because, at the end of the day, remaining financially sustainable is in the best interests of all our members.

• We’re making necessary changes, without unnecessary impacts

We’re making changes that are mandatory as a result of the Government PHI reforms. And we’re also making positive changes to help make health insurance easier to understand.

All members will be notified directly about any changes that impact them, but for most, we expect that the changes will be minimal.

We also expect that media coverage on the reforms will ramp up as we get closer to 1 April 2019, but to cut through the noise and any subsequent confusion, we will keep this page regularly updated with all the facts and latest news.