This is an attempt to provide an aggregate and objective rating of private health insurance companies in Australia based on their financials and other metrics. This is in contrast to most review sites which are based on user reviews that are often subjective, biased and not representative of the population.
Based on % of revenue spent on benefits and average rate of complaints, the best insurer in each state are:
| State | Best Insurer |
|---|---|
| NSW | HBF |
| VIC | HBF |
| QLD | Mildura |
| SA | Mildura |
| WA | Mildura |
| TAS | QCH |
| ACT | Mildura |
| NT | TFH |
This is calculated by dividing benefits paid out by the premium revenue of each insurer. The higher the percentage, the better.
Here is the summary of the results nation wide and per state:
| State | Top | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | HBF (88.0) | Police (86.7) | HP (86.6) |
| NSW | HBF (96.7) | Latrobe (95.8) | HP (93.3) |
| VIC | HBF (89.3) | Police (87.0) | HP (86.9) |
| QLD | CBHSCH (116.1) | Mildura (109.8) | CDH (102.7) |
| SA | Mildura (266.2) | Transport (99.6) | CBHSCH (99.0) |
| WA | CBHSCH (126.3) | Mildura (109.8) | HCF (99.3) |
| TAS | CBHSCH (135.5) | QCH (135.0) | CDH (97.5) |
| ACT | CBHSCH (219.4) | Mildura (171.5) | RBHS (91.6) |
| NT | TFH (94.6) | Transport (86.6) | HCF (86.4) |
Notes:
- RT and NMW insurers were excluded as they had been merged with another insurer this year.
- State levies were excluded from the calculation as they were not paid out to members and also not paid in all states.
- It appears that some of the insurers have heavily subsidised members of one state (such as CBHSCH in ACT paying out twice as much benefit as they received in premium from members in ACT) compared to others. This may be due to small number of members in some states which doesn't allow the even spread.
- Overall, HBF seems to return the most benefit to its members.
| Insurer | National | NSW | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | TAS | ACT | NT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACA | 77.7 | 76.5 | 74.3 | 86.4 | 80.6 | 66.3 | 94.7 | 22.0 | 36.7 |
| AUHL | 76.4 | 76.1 | 74.4 | 84.4 | 84.7 | 83.1 | 74.2 | 53.2 | 48.8 |
| BUPA | 80.7 | 76.6 | 78.8 | 86.0 | 81.9 | 89.7 | 79.4 | 65.7 | 77.8 |
| CBHS | 86.6 | 83.9 | 85.7 | 98.5 | 89.9 | 82.7 | 91.1 | 67.3 | 52.2 |
| CBHSCH | 85.6 | 72.1 | 79.4 | 116.1 | 99.0 | 126.3 | 135.5 | 219.4 | |
| CDH | 75.0 | 72.6 | 78.4 | 102.7 | 63.3 | 43.5 | 97.5 | -22.7 | 57.7 |
| CUA | 77.9 | 68.6 | 63.0 | 87.4 | 75.8 | 63.2 | 46.2 | 46.1 | 54.2 |
| Defence | 86.0 | 83.6 | 84.4 | 91.1 | 86.3 | 89.4 | 83.7 | 76.3 | 78.4 |
| DHF | 78.6 | 75.8 | 77.6 | 85.1 | 77.2 | 92.8 | 63.6 | 72.6 | 63.9 |
| GMHBA | 83.8 | 82.4 | 83.1 | 90.4 | 80.3 | 84.2 | 86.0 | 85.6 | 65.8 |
| HBF | 88.0 | 96.7 | 89.3 | 101.9 | 95.1 | 87.2 | 89.7 | 67.9 | 76.4 |
| HCF | 85.1 | 82.2 | 86.3 | 87.9 | 89.5 | 99.3 | 93.9 | 82.2 | 86.4 |
| HCI | 75.2 | 82.4 | 71.4 | 76.4 | 81.9 | 66.1 | 76.1 | 43.1 | 62.7 |
| HIF | 80.5 | 80.2 | 80.1 | 88.1 | 76.6 | 79.9 | 80.8 | 61.7 | 64.8 |
| HP | 86.6 | 93.3 | 86.9 | 96.5 | 86.1 | 85.9 | 88.0 | 47.5 | 59.3 |
| Latrobe | 79.4 | 95.8 | 77.9 | 83.4 | 82.9 | 80.2 | 76.3 | 45.3 | 33.6 |
| Mildura | 83.3 | 22.8 | 86.7 | 109.8 | 266.2 | 109.8 | 61.7 | 171.5 | 55.8 |
| MOH | 81.4 | 78.7 | 79.2 | 91.4 | 92.1 | 84.8 | 76.0 | 69.1 | 67.7 |
| MPL | 82.9 | 77.7 | 80.9 | 88.0 | 86.1 | 93.1 | 81.0 | 69.8 | 82.8 |
| Navy | 85.0 | 84.5 | 84.4 | 94.3 | 87.7 | 91.8 | 80.7 | 61.9 | 68.5 |
| NHBA | 74.8 | 75.6 | 74.9 | 75.6 | 78.3 | 76.2 | 59.5 | 44.2 | |
| NIB | 73.6 | 74.4 | 70.1 | 76.9 | 78.1 | 76.3 | 69.2 | 63.6 | 52.0 |
| Peoplecare | 83.6 | 81.5 | 86.3 | 89.0 | 76.1 | 78.8 | 82.0 | 75.2 | 50.1 |
| Phoenix | 81.6 | 80.1 | 82.6 | 92.2 | 79.3 | 75.7 | 71.2 | 41.3 | 48.6 |
| Police | 86.7 | 87.4 | 87.0 | 89.3 | 85.7 | 87.0 | 81.5 | 69.0 | 78.7 |
| QCH | 83.6 | 80.2 | 71.0 | 84.2 | 73.6 | 65.9 | 135.0 | 57.6 | 53.6 |
| QTUH | 83.4 | 75.0 | 68.5 | 84.5 | 65.9 | 59.0 | 80.3 | 47.6 | 23.7 |
| RBHS | 75.2 | 77.5 | 72.3 | 69.9 | 71.0 | 53.9 | 73.6 | 91.6 | 41.1 |
| St Luke's | 83.9 | 76.6 | 76.6 | 90.5 | 75.2 | 69.9 | 84.5 | 81.0 | 43.9 |
| TFH | 84.5 | 83.2 | 84.4 | 98.9 | 86.7 | 96.3 | 85.6 | 75.2 | 94.6 |
| Transport | 84.4 | 74.1 | 84.4 | 94.7 | 99.6 | 83.4 | 84.9 | 47.4 | 86.6 |
| Westfund | 78.5 | 73.7 | 84.0 | 83.4 | 86.1 | 85.8 | 75.0 | 75.4 | 32.1 |
The lower the number, the better.
| Insurer | Avg. # of complaints per 100K member |
|---|---|
| ACA | 0.0 |
| NHBA | 0.0 |
| RBHS | 0.0 |
| Mildura | 2.8 |
| CUA | 7.4 |
| QTUH | 7.6 |
| Police | 7.6 |
| HCI | 8.5 |
| Defence | 9.5 |
| Peoplecare | 11.3 |
| QCH | 11.7 |
| HBF | 11.8 |
| MPL | 11.9 |
| DHF | 12.4 |
| TFH | 13.1 |
| St Luke's | 13.3 |
| Westfund | 13.6 |
| BUPA | 14.1 |
| NIB | 16.8 |
| GMHBA | 17.5 |
| HCF | 18.2 |
| Phoenix | 20.3 |
| Navy | 21.6 |
| CBHS | 21.6 |
| Latrobe | 22.8 |
| HP | 23.9 |
| HIF | 24.4 |
| AUHL | 33.5 |
| CDH | 37.5 |
| CBHSCH | 38.8 |
| Transport | 50.3 |
| MOH | 61.5 |