Yesterday
- Exclusive
- NIB
Pressure for health premium overhaul in election headache for Albanese
The influential medical lobby is demanding an independent umpire to determine how high insurance premiums can rise as negotiations over the next increase begin.
- Michael Smith
July
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How to end the $22b private health war
Many things have changed in the 22 years that Mark Fitzgibbon has spent at the helm of NIB. The tension between private health insurers and private hospitals isn’t one of them.
- Updated
- James Thomson
St Vincent’s splits with insurer NIB amid private hospitals ‘crisis’
St Vincent’s on Thursday told health fund NIB it would walk away from its contract over an entrenched pricing disagreement.
- Tom McIlroy
June
- Health Winner
- Women in Leadership
‘We need to be champions of other women’
By the time Danielle Handley arrived at health insurer BUPA, the executive who hired her had left. She had to lead a company transformation without a boss.
- Sian Powell
- Opinion
- Hospitals
The bottom line is private hospitals are evolving, not collapsing
The government’s “financial health check” review should kick-start a conversation about innovation and the fate of some old, inefficient facilities.
- Matthew Koce
Help us or hospital system could fail: private operator
One of Australia’s largest Catholic hospital operators says a review of the viability of the private sector must secure a viable business model.
- Tom McIlroy
May
- Exclusive
- Insolvency
Doctors owed millions in collapse of service provider
The Melbourne-headquartered eReports allegedly failed to disclose $7.2 million owed to more than 400 specialists before calling in administrators.
- Max Mason
Brookfield’s Healthscope debt trap is a mess for everyone involved
The investment giant is bringing its punchy approach to restructuring – and tactics more often found in the US – to Australia as it works on the hospital group.
- Jemima Whyte
March
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The real story behind Healthscope’s restructure
As the Brookfield-owned Healthscope enters restructuring talks with its army of lenders, a much deeper crisis is playing out across the private hospital sector.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Exclusive
- Workplace
Hundreds of workers trial nine-day fortnight at Bupa
Private health insurer Bupa has joined the growing ranks of white-collar employers experimenting with a nine-day fortnight.
- Euan Black
Healthscope calls in restructuring specialists
Canadian infrastructure giant Brookfield’s private hospitals business Healthscope has called in restructuring specialists, as insurers tighten their fists on payouts to the sector.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
The industry still struggling post-COVID; How to avoid burnout; A GDP slump we had to have?
This week, James and Anthony ask if Australia’s weak economic growth even matters, reveal top hacks for dodging burnout, and ask why the private health system seems sick.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Hospitals are the pain point in the private health sector
NIB boss Mark Fitzgibbon acknowledges private hospitals are under pressure. Tuesday’s rise in health insurance premiums will kick off a new battle.
- James Thomson
- Updated
- Mark Butler
Private hospitals sound alarm as premiums rise
More than a dozen private hospitals have closed since last year, with NIB boss Mark Fitzgibbon warning of a structural change in the provision of medical care.
- Michael Read and James Thomson
Health insurance premiums are rising. See how your fund compares
Almost 15 million private health insurance customers will see their premiums rise by an average of 3.03 per cent on April 1.
- Updated
- Michael Read
February
Medibank shares fall on disappointing policy growth guidance
Citi analyst Nigel Pittaway said the result was a “slight disappointment” as growth rates moderate across private health.
- Lucas Baird
- Opinion
- Opinion
Taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidise Medibank’s four-day week
Rather than lead the pack in extending long weekends to its staff, the health insurer should cut its operating expenses and reduce premiums.
- Nick Hossack
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Bupa becomes a venture capital player with $20m fund
Bupa Asia Pacific has raised funds to try and make the corporate VC model work, by backing the next generation of health tech start-ups.
- Jessica Sier
December 2023
- Opinion
- Opinion
Keeping premiums affordable requires modern healthcare
If Labor wants to keep health insurance affordable to take pressure off the public system, tougher reforms are needed to make our health system more efficient and sustainable.
- Rachel David
- Exclusive
- Inflation
Labor rejects 6pc rise in health insurance premiums
Health Minister Mark Butler has rejected a request to lift premiums by 4 to 6 per cent, as Labor tries to quell voter discontent over cost of living pressures.
- Updated
- Michael Read
