Posted by Michael Wonder on 04 Jan 2018
Bupa slams comparator websites for diverting funds from healthcare and demands transparency
4 January 2018 - One of Australia's biggest health funds has accused comparator websites of being a "significant cost on the system", diverting $200 million a year from healthcare to their own bottom line.
Bupa's managing director Dwayne Crombie said, based on his calculations, comparator websites – which usually take a chunk of the first year's premium as commission – were costing health insurers $150 to $200 million a year and pushing up premiums.
"The customer might not have to pay more to use a comparison website, but the health insurers have to pay direct, and what happens when the health insurers do that, is it comes into their price, so the customers are then paying for it indirectly," he told Fairfax Media.
