6 November 2019 - Medibank Private chief executive Craig Drummond has warned the entire affordability and sustainability of private healthcare in Australia is in jeopardy as hospital procedure costs run ahead of inflation and insurers face falling returns again this year.

An angry and at times frustrated Mr Drummond, who was forced to issue a warning on Wednesday that Medibank had been stung by higher-than-expected claims since August, said on an investor call that “something didn’t feel right” in hospital and surgical volumes and that the “maths do not work” in the current costs and insurance premiums structure.

The boss of the nation’s biggest health insurer signalled it was time for the government and stakeholders to act to protect the sustainability of the nation’s private health insurance industry, which covers more than 13 million Australians.

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