Almost half of all private health insurance policies will be categorised as 'Gold' under the new system to be introduced over the next year.
In response to questions at Senate Estimates yesterday, recently appointed assistant secretary of the Department of Health private health insurance area, Nick Henderson, said around 45 per cent of all policies would qualify for the top 'Gold' category. He was unable to answer how many people were in those policies.
Under the reform, all 70,000 private health insurance policies will be categorised as gold/silver/bronze or basic.
The categories are based on set minimum requirements. They are designed to simplify private health insurance and provide consumers with greater certainty about the services covered by each type of product.
The reform will be implemented from 1 April this year with all policies required to comply with the new rules from 1 April 2020.