Thousands of people with private health insurance have been frustrated by delays in paying claims. -AAP Image
Poor customer service and protracted delays in processing claims by health insurers are frustrating thousands around the nation, a report has found.
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The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman received 4,241 complaints and over 1,600 enquiries about private health insurance from 2023 to 2024.
Its 24-page State of the Health Funds Report said the number of complaints increased by nearly a quarter from the previous year.
The most common issues were about how dissatisfied consumers were with the level of customer service, the amount paid for a claim and how long that process took as well as membership problems.
BUPA and Medibank dominate over half of the market among 30 health insurers in Australia, but at a mere two per cent of the market share Defence Health was particularly called out for exasperating its policyholders
It had the dubious honour of representing nearly a third of all complaints received by the ombudsman.
A disastrous IT system overhaul in July 2023 has caused prolonged hiccups with premium payments, claim processing and transfer certificates triggered the ire of policy holders.
Despite the stuff-up, it still was among the best for retaining members at over 90 per cent along with other profession-specific insurers such as Police Health and Teachers Health.
BUPA and Medibank were also not spared scathing assessments with over a third of complaints concerning them both.
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