ONE in six Albury-Wodonga Health patients are using their health insurance in public hospitals without any guarantee it will get them faster care, a choice of doctor or a private room.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And some people are getting stung by unexpected bills for more than $1000, an insurer says.
New data shows the number of patients using their insurance in Victoria's biggest public hospitals has been creeping up for the past three years to reach an expected rate of about 15 per cent this financial year.
Public hospitals regularly ask patients if they want to use their health insurance because it gives the hospital a financial boost compared to the government funding it receives for a public patient.
The Victorian government says patients who opt to use their insurance are not guaranteed any special treatment, but may receive a doctor of their choice. Many hospitals say they cover people's out of pocket costs for using their insurance to remove any disincentive.
The practice, allowed under the government's national health funding agreement, angers private hospitals because it cuts into their market share, and insurers say it is pushing up premiums.
The Victorian government's 2016-17 funding agreements with hospitals shows about one in three patients at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are expected to use their insurance there this year. It shows 16.6 per cent of patients are expected to use their private cover in the Albury-Wodonga Health system.
While patients are effectively drawing on their insurance to pay for care they would otherwise receive for free courtesy of taxpayers, insurers say some patients get nasty surprises.
Chief benefits officer for insurer HCF, Cindy Shay, said a survey of 35,000 members over three years found 14 per cent said they faced unexpected costs ranging from $200 to $1000, and 20 per cent of these people said they faced costs over $1000.
Sixty per cent of people did not receive their choice of doctor in a public hospital, and only 20 per cent got a single room, Ms Shay said.