New statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have found a quarterly decrease of 9,760 people holding private medical insurance.
The largest drop was recorded among those aged between 30 and 34 – which account for 9,565 of those rejecting the cover.
The drop has coincided with government rules to prioritise emergency hospital care and pause non-vital elective surgeries to manage the impact of Covid-19, a measure that was partially lifted at the end of April and is expected to be eased further this month.
Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE has previously blasted insurers for not cutting premiums while people are unable to use the full range of services they pay for – but industry association Private Health Care Australia (PHCA) said providers expect a raft of claims now those restrictions have been lifted.
PHCA CEO Rachel David said: “Health funds must remain well capitalised and prudentially sound throughout and beyond the Covid-19 crisis to fund the backlog of elective surgeries and allied health benefits.”
If insurers do record higher-than-usual profits because of the situation, however, she said providers “would look to pass that onto members.”