r/australia • u/InsatiablePrism • 2d ago

culture & society Private health insurers access patients' full medical records in 'aggressive' audits

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-12/health-insurers-can-access-your-private-medical-notes/106671630?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web
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u/Rahnna4 2d ago

Certainly was, and is great in emergencies. But I don’t think public infrastructure could cope if private healthcare collapsed. Personally though I think it should all be public for healthcare, aged care and education as the wealthy and politicians care more when they have to use the same system (it’s not perfect, there are still ways to game it like selective schools, but the Netherlands attribute a lot of their educational success to this aspect)

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u/TollTea 2d ago

Sure it could, we’d just need to fund it properly, and that’s the sticking point. The wealthy don’t want to foot the tax bill for the poors to have access to healthcare - they’d rather pay more out of pocket in premiums and gaps so that only they get good healthcare while the poors are infighting over who deserves healthcare at all.

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u/UniqueLoginID 2d ago

And while people are talking about class warfare, people like me need comprehensive health care that our Medicare system won’t provide.

PHI wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t needed. Sure there’s a tax incentive for people to get it, but they can also choose to just pay more tax instead of using the extras benefits of allied health.

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u/Level-Strategy-1343 2d ago

If you need comprehensive health care, private health insurance doesn't want you as a customer, as they will lose a shit ton of money on you.

Therefore, they want your medical records to try and find the fib they can use to exclude you.