Australian Unity has announced it will continue to offer financial hardship assistance to customers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as it applies the deferred premium increase to its products from 1 October 2020.
The insurer previously deferred all premium increases scheduled for 1 April 2020 for a period of six months. It said this has saved its policyholders more than $8 million.
The increase will be applied from 1 October. The insurer said policyholders who previously received financial hardship assistance from the company because of COVID-19 will have their scheduled premium increase automatically deferred for a further six months until 1 April 2021.
Australian Unity said it is also offering any policyholders receiving the government’s JobSeeker or JobKeeper allowance the opportunity to apply to have the 1 October increase deferred for a further six months.
CEO of Australian Unity Health Insurance David Brajkovic said, “As a company committed to delivering real wellbeing through our products and services, we believe that health insurance is becoming increasingly important to the health and wellbeing of Australians.
“This targeted assistance, along with our standard hardsip support procedures, will help people who have been hit hard by COVID-19 to maintain their health insurance while they get their lives back on track.”