A key pillar of Australia’s private health insurance policy appears to be on shaky ground, threatening to bring down the entire system.
The inherent issue with all universal private healthcare systems (including Australia’s) is that they can only remain solvent if enough young and healthy people (the so-called “invincibles”) agree to sign-up. They are the ones who are likely to pay more into the system than they take out. And in the absence of risk-based pricing, the only incentive for the invincibles to sign up is to avoid penalty (eg. the medicare levy and the lifetime health cover surcharges).
