The Alliance of Members Health Funds congratulates the Hon. Greg Hunt MP on his reappointment as Minister for Health in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Government.
Members Health CEO Matthew Koce said the Association’s 25 funds all looked forward to continuing work with Minister Hunt and his office, following an extremely successful term that brought in some of the most significant and beneficial reforms for private health insurance in decades.
“Greg Hunt has been an outstanding Health Minister with an exceptional record in delivering tangible outcomes that improve the lives of Australian families,” Mr Koce said.
“Under Minister Hunt’s leadership, the entire private health industry – insurers, hospitals, clinicians and consumer groups – came together with a simple but fundamental goal in mind: Improve affordability, access and value for Australian consumers.”
“Greg Hunt’s reforms have made a real and tangible difference to peoples’ lives. Thanks to his leadership, it is now much easier for consumers to shop around for health cover and things will only get better as the Minister works to deliver his government website listing individual specialist fees and charges.
“Thanks to Greg Hunt’s reforms to the pricing of implantable medical devices (such as artificial hips and knees and pace makers), we have seen back-to-back years with the lowest average private health premium increase in decades. He has also listed many new life savings drugs on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.”
“Minister Hunt’s initiatives are helping health funds, private hospitals and our wonderful medical specialists achieve their full potential and deliver even better value and higher quality health care to patients.
“The private system helps more than 13.5 million Australians take personal responsibility for their health needs, with fast high-quality care and choice of doctor. The country’s 37 insurers provided more than $20 billion in benefits over the past year alone, taking significant weight off the public health system and taxpayers,” Mr Koce said
Members Health funds are not for profit, member owned or community based and provide private health insurance to more than 2 million Australians.
They represent Australia’s military families, teachers, police, nurses and doctors. Many are headquartered in key regional communities such as Townsville, Cessnock, Lithgow, Wollongong, Newcastle, the Latrobe Valley, Mildura, Burnie and Launceston, to name a few.
“Australia has one of the best health systems in the world, but it relies on a balance of private and public services. Under Greg Hunt’s wise and sensible leadership, Members Health is confident we can continue to find ways to make the health system even better,” Mr Koce said.
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