Media release archive
Please note the following information contained in this archive reflects issues and statements on a historical basis.
Any industry or market statistics, company statements or other items should be viewed in this context. This archive should not be considered as current or implied marketing or quality statements.
11 March 2008 - Where to from here for cash-strapped households?
March is turning out to be a horror month for many Australian families, with an increase in interest rates, soaring prices at the petrol bowser and now an average 4.99% jump in private health insurance premiums.
However, there are a number of comparative sites and advisory services available to enable you to be smart with your money, and the great thing is you can use most of them at no cost to you.
“Many of us will need to be a lot more careful about parting with our hard-earned cash in light of the current economic situation,” said Joanne Whyte from iSelect, Australia's largest private health insurance advisory service.
“Thankfully, there are a lot of services available to help you save money - everything from personalised advice and dedicated websites to newsletters and user reviews.
“You'll be able to get advice on a range of goods and services - from health insurance to petrol and food,” Joanne said.
“In the case of health insurance, there are many different and complex policy combinations on offer across Australia. So finding the right cover at the right price can be extremely confusing and time consuming.
“Some consumers may pay a higher premium than they need to just because they don't have time to trawl through the web of policy options. And others may be on a policy that simply does not provide the right cover for their current circumstances or location,” she explained.
“My advice is to talk to an advisory organisation or jump on one of the many comparative websites before you part with your cash for any goods and services.
“And for the 10.5 million Australians that have private health insurance: remember, you do have choice!” she emphasised.
“There's no charge to use a service like iSelect, so there's really no reason why you should be paying too much for anything, including health insurance.”
Where to go for help:
- iselect.com.au or privatehealth.gov.au for health insurance
- motormouth.com.au or racv.com.au for petrol
- wotif.com.au, gostay.com.au, expedia.com.au for travel
- lasso.com.au for a range of goods and services on sale in your local area
- creditworld.com.au to compare the best credit cards on offer
- getprice.com.au for a range of everyday household goods
- servicecentral.com.au for trades people
Getting the most from private health insurance
1. Match the policy to your needs
Look at your family history and stage of life, and don't pay for what you don't want. For example, if you're young you may not want hip replacement. If you're retired, chances are you won't want pregnancy cover.
2. Give your current insurance cover a health check
There are a great range of health covers out there, so don't be afraid to change funds. You generally will not have to re-serve waiting periods if you change funds for similar levels of cover.
3. Review your extras cover
What you'll get back on ancillary services such as dentistry, physiotherapy and optical will vary greatly between funds, so make sure that your cover is competitive and suits your needs.
4. Use a broker
Services such as iSelect help take the complexity out of shopping for private health insurance. They help you compare policies, ensuring your get great cover for your individual circumstances.
5. Consider mix and matching policies
You don't need to have both hospital and extras cover with the same insurer. Pick and choose the policies and funds that suit your needs.
22 August 2008 - MEDIA RELEASE - For immediate release
Medicare Levy Surcharge changes to add 800,000 to Hospital Waiting Lists
In the lead up to next week's debate of the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) legislation in the Senate, new analysis conducted by leading economic consultancy Access Economics has revealed that up to 846,000 additional episodes between 2008 and 2012 would be shifted to Australia's public hospitals as a result of proposed changes to the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
The modelling, commissioned by health insurance comparison and advisory service iSelect, has been undertaken in response to the Government's proposal to double the Surcharge for singles to $100,000 and to $150,000 for families/couples. Access has predicted that between 2008 and 2012 the policy will:
- Cause some 1.15 million Australians to either drop their cover or not take up private health cover
- Cause 846,965 episodes of care to be shifted to the public hospital system at a cost of $2.9 billion to the States and Territories
- Cause an increase in health insurance premiums of at least 2.73% in 2009 and likely beyond that in later years
- Cause a material strain on the public system even if it is watered down to new a threshold of $65,000 or $75,000 (for singles)
Access Economics Director Lynne Pezzullo, said “We predict that as the burden of care shifts to the public system, a $2.9 billion impost on State and Territory governments will take place, ultimately dwarfing the Federal Budget savings of $113 million estimated through our modelling.”
“Importantly, unless moves are made to amend or mitigate the effects of the proposed policy, collateral damage to our public system will occur, with an increased rationing of access to public hospitals, ultimately resulting in Australians waiting longer for treatment.”
“Of concern is that this impost is against a backdrop during a period where Australia will see pressures on Federal and State/Territory health budgets becoming more intense as we experience very fast growth in the number of very old people, more costly health technologies and rising expectations from baby boomers, “ Ms Pezzullo concluded.
iSelect CEO Damien Waller, said, “The modelling of Access Economics paints a grim picture in relation to the more critical impacts of the proposed Levy changes, and as we understand is the only modelling of such depth undertaken by industry or government.”
“It brings into question the merit of using the levy thresholds as a means of delivering tax savings to taxpayers, compared with other options that presumably are available to the Government at less cost to the public purse and Australia’s healthcare system.”
“Given the impacts predicted by Access Economics of any significant change to the current thresholds, we caution against any amendment at this time.”
Mr. Waller added, “Rather a decision should be held off until, through considered analysis, the optimal balance required between private and public healthcare for Australia’s long term needs is determined. Only then can it meaningfully be decided where key measures such as the Medicare Levy Surcharge thresholds are set.”
Download the report :
Contact:
Henry Cutler, Senior Health Economist,
Access Economics, 02 8257 3314 or 0409 770 946
Rohan Martin, General Manager Corporate Affairs,
iSelect, 03 9276 8208 or 0417 311 602.
23 June 2008 - Media Statement - For immediate release CALLING 31 YEAR OLD'S
7 DAYS LEFT TO ACT!
Australia's largest health insurance advisory service, iSelect, has today warned that a number of consumers about to be affected by Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) may be unaware of the loading penalty that will lock them into higher health insurance premiums. Under LHC, for most Australians, if they turn 31 this financial year they will start to incur a 2% loading on their health cover each year unless they take out private hospital cover by 30 June 2008.
LHC is a Government initiative introduced in July 2000. It is designed to encourage people to take out private health insurance earlier in life, and to maintain their cover. iSelect's General Manager for Corporate Affairs, Rohan Martin, said that come 30 June a number of Australians caught by LHC may not realise that unless they act they will be forced to pay more for health cover than they otherwise need to.
"iSelect estimates there are in excess of 200,000 Australians without private health insurance who will have turned 31 during this financial year."
"Our message is don't become one of the 60,000 Australians each year who take out private health insurance and are forced to pay more than they need to." Someone who has not had cover before and takes out Private Hospital Cover aged 42 may end up paying an extra 24%. On an average family policy, this could amount to an additional $400 or more per year over 10 years. "
Rohan added, "iSelect speaks with many customers who simply don't know about LHC and its implications for the family budget when they come to take out private health insurance. "
“People also can be surprised to learn that if they are 31 and take out hospital cover before 30 June and stay covered, they will not have any loading penalty added to their premium”.
“We encourage people to double check their circumstances and to not get caught out”.
ENDS
For interviews, please call:
Rohan Martin, iSelect, on 03 9276 8208 or 0417 311 602
Background to Lifetime Health Cover
Lifetime Health Cover was introduced in July 2000 and involves a penalty for people aged over 30 who do not hold private health insurance hospital cover.
For each year over 30, a 2% loading (cumulative) is added to the cost of the private health insurance premium up to a maximum of 70%. Those born before 1 July 1934 are exempt from the penalty.
As a new citizen or permanent resident of Australia, if you are aged 31 or over, you will not have to pay a LHC loading if you take out hospital cover within 12 months of being registered for Medicare.
The loading penalty does not apply forever. It is removed after private hospital cover has been held for a period of 10 continuous years.
Example Lifetime Health Cover loadings:
| Age | Loading | Age | Loading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 30 | Nil | 35 | 10% |
| 31 | 2% | 40 | 20% |
| 32 | 4% | 50 | 40% |
| 33 | 6% | 60 | 60% |
13 May 2008 - Budget Provides No Major Movement in Australia's Hospital Queues
Australia's largest health insurance advisory service, iSelect, has questioned whether the Federal Budget has addressed the systemic problem of hospital waiting queues in Australia.
CEO Damien Waller said that while the injection of funds to the public health system was welcomed, he warned it was not enough to cover the likely influx of new patients to make any real impact.
“Because of the concurrent changes to the Medicare Surcharge Levy, we could
conservatively expect an influx of around 150,000
additional patients into the public health system annually.
“As Australians move from the private system, it will effectively negate the impact of the additional funding provided in the Budget.
“And this number is only going to worsen as private insurance premiums increase and more people reconsider their options,” Damien said.
“We concur with the Government's policy to increase the Medicare Levy Surcharge
thresholds.
“However, the doubling of the surcharge for singles has gone above the required
indexation and negates the necessary injection of funds to
improve Australia's public health system.
“In fact, the 9.4 million people with private hospital cover should feel concerned by the apparent fundamental shift away from Australia's commitment to a robust public and private health system mix,” he added.
“Given the range of tax cuts and other relief delivered to help working families, we question why the Government would need to implement such fundamental changes to the surcharge and put Australia's public and private system mix into question.”
For interviews, please call:
De-Arne Carr, on 03 9827 9933 or 0419 585 711
Rohan Martin, iSelect, on 03 9276 8208 or 0417 311 602
12 May 2008 - Changes to Medicare Surcharge likely to impact all Australians
Media Statement - For immediate release.
iSelect, Australia's largest health insurance advisory service, warns that changes to the Medicare Levy Surcharge could have a significant impact on Australia's health care system.
CEO Damien Waller said the Government's decision appears to have ignored the fundamental role the surcharge plays in not only encouraging people into private health insurance, but helping to reduce the pressure on an overloaded public system and to help fund Medicare.
"It's important to realise that changes to the surcharge will impact both private and public patients. "We estimate, in the absence of other information, that the change in the surcharge will mean there will be an annual shortfall of about $350 million to help fund Medicare next year, with significant flow-on affects for future years. It is also likely to have some inflationary impact on the economy," Damien said.
"There are currently around 9.4 million Australians with private hospital cover, and any reduction in this number will mean that fewer people will share the cost of private health insurance, ultimately meaning private health insurance premiums will escalate.
"For public patients, the over stretched system is likely to get a lot worse in the immediate future. Even with a major injection of funds, it is difficult to see how health infrastructure and resources will be able to respond quickly enough."
In Australia, more than 25,000 people are waiting longer than one year for elective surgery. There are some cases where the average wait for shoulder and elbow surgery is 101 weeks, while the wait for hip replacements has been 70 weeks. He cautioned Australians to take a longer-term view of their health care needs, as they could be worse off if they make a knee jerk reaction to the change in the surcharge.
Damien said many people would be significantly out of pocket if they need treatment or their choice of doctor at a time when they required it and are not privately covered.
Contact:
Rowan Martin: (03) 9276 8208 | 0417 311 602 | rmartin@iselect.com.au
June 2007 - iSelect continues to grow the Health Insurance Market!
iSelect today announced another massive June in response to tax related enquiries. Every year iSelect receives thousands of phone calls wishing to clarify their health insurance situation, and more so in June. "We saw an almost 4 fold increase in enquiries this year on last year" said Mark Eastham who manages the iSelect business development centre. While a lot of enquiries are related to clarifying the tax impact of purchasing health insurance, iSelect confirmed that their marketing appears to be also influencing general volumes in the industry. "Roughly 80% of our phone calls are from people who do not have health insurance, this is in contrast to the types of calls that health funds tell us they get." said Marketing director Roger McBride.
This seems to be supporting evidence for claims that the iSelect advertising is growing the market as opposed to churning. A claim often aimed at brokers. Further analysis of freely available data provided by PHIAC further supports this claim. "If you layer the demographics of the average iSelect customer on the data of currently insured Australians, you can see straight away that we're attracting the younger demographics into the health insurance system." said Roger. It would be fair to assume that the wider impact of this is not localised to iSelect, as analysis of 3rd party internet data shows quite a lot of people decide to shop directly with the fund after visiting iSelect - so the industry seems to be positively affected.
April 2006 - Ninemsn Chooses iSelect
Ninemsn today announced it has agreed to acquire 35 percent of iSelect – Australia's number-one health insurance comparison site based on a company valuation of approximately $40 million. Following completion of the acquisition, Ninemsn will have two directors appointed to the board.
Announcing the investment, iSelect CEO Damien Waller said: "We are delighted to welcome ninemsn as a significant shareholder. This is a strong vote of confidence in iSelect's business model and recognises the success that we have achieved to date. There is a strategic fit with our existing business and we believe there are considerable synergies to be gained."
According to Martin Hoffman, Ninemsn CEO, the acquisition demonstrates Ninemsn's commitment to the Australian online market in the rapidly developing sectors of health and finance."By investing in iSelect, we are investing in an Australian Internet pioneer. Online finance and health are two of the fastest growing areas of the Australian market" said Mr Hoffman.
Damien Waller said the investment comes at a time of growing momentum for iSelect. "Working closely with Ninemsn and its shareholders provides an exciting future for iSelect; we will be able to provide a greater range of services to a wider range of clients."
The investment also demonstrates Ninemsn's commitment to innovation. "Ninemsn recognises the enormous potential of the unique technology iSelect has developed, initially for the health insurance industry. It provides a platform for the comparison and recommendation of complex consumer services across a range of industries." said Mr Hoffman.
"iSelect.com.au has created one of the fastest growing destinations for consumers to compare, select and purchase a range of private health insurance products. Consumers are increasingly demanding more information prior to committing to a particular product. Working with key health insurers, together we help provide informed choices for consumers." said Mr Waller.
iSelect was formed in 2000 by Damien Waller and Dr David Urpani, who identified the potential of iSelect's unique comparison technology for the purchase of private health insurance. The investment marks an important milestone for iSelect as the business accelerates its penetration of the private health insurance market.
The acquisition marks an exciting new development for Ninemsn's corporate development following the purchase of mobile marketing solutions business 5th Finger in November 2005 and the completion of the acquisition of the content syndication publisher HWW earlier this week. Further financial terms for the acquisition were not disclosed.
About Ninemsn
Australia's number-one interactive media company has the largest online audience in Australia, with over 7.69 million people visiting each month, representing over 75 percent reach to all Australian Internet users. Formed in 1997, Ninemsn is a 50:50 joint venture between the Microsoft Corporation and PBL.
About iSelect.com.au
iSelect is one of Australia's leading health insurance comparison service. Launched in 2000, iSelect has become a destination of choice for shoppers to compare, select and save across our participating health funds. iSelect.com.au also provides a valuable, high growth distribution channel for health insurers. iSelect.com.au is based in Melbourne with over 80 staff.
Media Contact: Rohan Martin
March 2005 - 2005 Premium Increases Announced
The Federal Government announced that it had approved private health insurance premiums will rise by an average of 7.95%. Whilst this is an "average" increase, the reality is that funds announced the individual policy increases vary between 5% through over 15%.
iSelect recommends that now is the time for consumers to review their individual policies and recheck with iSelect to ensure that they still have great policy in terms of price, coverage and features.
February 2005 - iSelect appears on Channel 9 - A Current Affair
iSelect appeared on Channel 9's A Current Affair. Prior to the announced premium increases Channel Nine investigated the impact of premium increases and looked at ways in which consumers can save money.
Justin Hanka, iSelect's General Manager - Health Insurance said "When faced with premium increases people need to review their policy and use a service like iSelect to shop around for a better deal"
December 2004 - iSelect launches new Australian Health Insurance Information Site
iSelect today launched a new informational site www.healthinsurance.com.au . The new site is designed to provide a wealth of information to consumers who may be considering purchasing Private Health Insurance, but wish to learn more before they commit.
The new site includes comprehensive information on the types of cover available, understanding policy fine print, tax considerations, selecting the right policy for your individual needs and issues that are likely to be important to you based on your "Life Stage".
The launch of this new site is part of iSelect's commitment to assisting people in becoming more informed when purchasing private health insurance.
June 2004 - iSelect Rings Up One Million Visitors
iSelect today announced that its online health insurance web site had its millionth visitor this week. iSelect makes it incredibly easy to match your health insurance needs with some of Australia's leading health funds. Whether your needs are changing or you simply want to ensure you're getting the value for money, iSelect makes choosing health insurance easy. The iSelect web site features many policy combinations.
"Reaching our one millionth visitor is a major milestone, and is proof positive that our online experience is second to none," said Damien Waller, iSelect's Managing Director.
"iSelect is a popular way for a growing number of consumers and businesses to select great health cover to meet their needs, allowing intelligent comparisons from a range of Australia's health funds."
iSelect demystifies the process of selecting your health insurance, matches policy options to your specific needs and allows you to compare between participating funds on price and coverage. The iSelect service is free to consumers. Your needs are changing or you simply want to ensure you're getting the value for money, iSelect makes choosing health insurance easy.
May 2004 - New 'i' for the iSelect brand
iSelect has re-launched with an exciting new image. Gone are the greens and blacks, iSelect now reflects the earthy tones of a proud Australian Company. Since its humble beginnings in 2000, iSelect has grown to service over 1 million Australians with its unique decision support tool and makes choosing Private Health Insurance easy.
"The new site has been redesigned to help users navigate through the system more easily without compromising on detail. After all, there are over many policy combinations offered by iSelect. We want our customers to be confident that every option has been considered and that the recommendations they're left with are the best-fit for their needs and wants" explained Marketing Manager Mini Latif.
Another great feature of the new-look site is the Tips section, providing tips on some of the things that are important to consider when shopping for health insurance. The site guides you step by step and before you know it, you are offered the 3 Top recommendations on policies that suit your needs. At any point you can easily change parameters to allow you to compare your choices.
"Our customers have told us the more information we can provide on the policies, the better. Therefore, we've placed a strong emphasis on educating the user on the available products through the Tips, FAQs and glossary pages. If that doesn't answer their questions we have highly experienced staff in our contact centre who are ready to help" says Ms Latif.
This is certainly an exciting time for iSelect. It seems we could all do with some help when it comes to sorting through thousands of policy options. With a company that is dedicated to taking the chore out of choice, iSelect is certainly up there giving a helping hand. Ms Latif concluded with "The fact that the service is free is just an added bonus."
March 2004 - Today Tonight
Reporter Rohan Wenn of Today Tonight interviewed iSelect on how consumers can find a better deal when faced with yet another premium increase. Here is a snapshot of the interview:
"Mini Latif of iSelect says new services such as iSelect offer to match consumers with health funds."
"We find that we've had 60 year old women who have had pregnancy on their policy or we'll have 20 year olds that have hip replacements," Ms Latif said.
"Use a free service like iSelect and what they'll do is the shopping for you, and they'll find a tailored solution to your specific needs."
March 2004 - iSelect REBRANDS
iSelect is in its forth year of business and decided it was time to have a makeover. We have listened to the request of our users and are currently developing a more user friendly website to ensure your selection process is easy, detailed and quick. The new site will be up and running towards the end of March. So remember to refresh and see the new look iSelect.
May 2003 - New & Easier to use Results Page
On 9th May 2003 we released the latest version of our health insurance advisory system. This latest release allows you to change all your preferences via the recommendations page itself without needing to navigate back to previous pages. This allows you to change your preferences and immediately see the new recommended policies all on one page.
October 2002 - iSelect features in 'Best of the Best 2003' - Money Magazine
As the market leader in delivering expert advice on our customers' health insurance needs, iSelect was approached by Money Magazine to assist with their "Best of the Best" publication for 2003. The publication is available in newsagents now and provides comparisons across a range of financial products and services. For the first time ever Money Magazine was able to include a Health Insurance section using assistance and data from iSelect.
October 2002 - New, improved iSelect website
iSelect is pleased to announce the release of a new version of our health insurance advisory software. This new release allows iSelect customers to save their visit on the iSelect site at any time and return to iSelect at a later stage to complete their questionnaire and view their recommendation.
You can also review the progress of your on-line order by logging in. Logging in takes you to your Personal Homepage that allows you to view the status of mailed, emailed, faxed applications to the fund of your choice. We continue to work on further improvements to the system. If you have any comments or suggestions we would be very interested to hear from you at info@iselect.com.au.
July 2002 - iSelect forms industry association
iSelect is pleased to announce that it is a driving force behind the establishment of the Private Health Insurance Intermediaries Association (PHIIA). Health Insurance did not fall under the scope of the Financial Services Reform Act, so iSelect decided that in the interest of consumers, the industry should pursue self-regulation.
In conjunction with AON Risk Management, Jardine Health Benefits and W M Mercer the Association was established to implement standards for independent intermediaries, agents and brokers advising and providing health insurance on behalf of registered health insurance organisations.
The Association already represents the majority market share of agents selling health insurance in Australia. However, new members will be actively recruited to raise the level of professionalism across Australia and to create an environment where consumers can feel confident dealing with members of the Association. iSelect endorses the Code of Ethics, supports full disclosure as well as professionalism and compliance through ongoing training. iSelect will work hard in representing both consumers and the industry in the development of the Association's standards.
April 2002 - iSelect featured on Channel 9's A Current Affair
With Australia's health insurers announcing premium increases and benefit changes, A Current Affair decided to investigate. Key questions included whether health insurance was still important, and impact of increases or cover changes. Given the recent price rises and as the consumer's advocate, iSelect was mentioned as being able to give advice and solutions to consumers on how to select a great fund and product for their individual needs. iSelect will continue to assist consumers during this difficult time via its health insurance advisory service and through judicious use of the media like Channel 9's A Current Affair.
October 2001 - New, improved service from iSelect
How time flies! Here at iSelect we have been in business for over 12 months now, and the customer feedback we've received has been fantastic. For the last few months we have been busy developing our "next generation" site. The look and feel of the site is generally the same, still clean and easy to use but will deliver advice that more closely matches your needs and budget.
A major step forward has been to work with health professionals and utilise data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to predict most likely claim occurrences for various age and sex combinations. This gives our customers an insight into the likelihood of actual claims that they might incur, and the preference buttons have been preset to reflect these possibilities. The preset selection is just a guide. Customers can change the radio buttons to suit their own personal requirements by taking into consideration their personal health situation and family history. This important initiative by iSelect ensures that the recommended policy suits your preferences as closely as possible, using actual real-time claims experiences.
July 2001 - "The Gap"... important information for you
In the past even though you may have had top hospital health insurance cover, this didn't necessarily cover the Gap - the cost of doctors' services in hospital not covered by Medicare and private insurance. Now, the Gap is closing. All health funds can now provide cover that helps you avoid the Gap when you go to hospital. How does closing the Gap work? Health funds and specialists are entering into arrangements where you can receive doctors' services with no gap to pay when you go to hospital or day surgery.
This means that Medicare and your health fund will cover the total cost of doctors' services in hospital and you won't have to pay any extra from your own pocket. While the majority of doctors' services in hospital are already gap-free, not all specialists are participating and don't necessarily have arrangements with all health funds. Sometimes your specialist will charge you a gap even when he/she has an arrangement with your health fund. Your specialist should let you know - prior to treatment - what the gap amount will be. This is called 'known gap' and helps to take the surprise out of hospital treatment.
- Ask your doctor the following questions:
- Will you treat me under my fund's Access Gap Cover arrangements?
- Will I incur any personal out-of-pocket expenses for my treatment and if so, can you give me a written estimate of how much?
- Will any assisting doctors also use Access Gap Cover?
- Are you prepared to send the bill to my fund directly so they can claim my Medicare benefit on my behalf and send the total payment back to you?
If you would like further information regarding the Gap, contact iSelect on 1800 10 2000 or info@iselect.com.au.
Feb 2000 - Health professionals spread the iSelect word
It seems waiting rooms around Australia are a-buzz with people talking about iSelect. Thanks to the thousands of health practitioners who responded to our call to join forces to provide patients with a great source of health insurance information, http://www.iselect.com.au is the address of 2001. How did we do it? We networked with the health practitioners and made an offer that was guaranteed to save them valuable time.
Who could resist? There's not enough hours in the day as it is, and now instead of answering the same questions that continually pop up on a one-to-one basis, they are now directing their patients to the iSelect website. For those not on-line, there's the convenience of our free call number where people will be greeted by a trained and informed operator. Now when you visit your local doctor, physio, naturopath, chiropractor - look out for the distinctive iSelect brochure stand. Take a few and pass them on to your friends. They'll thank you for helping them cut through the confusion of health insurance!
Dec 2000 - Because you saw, we conquered
Thanks to you and millions of other Australians with their eyes and ears open to the iSelect message being advertised on TV, radio, in newspapers, magazines and on the back of taxi's, we have been awarded the highest distinction for the success of our advertising campaign by the Australian Direct Marketing Association's award group. It's exciting to think that our advertising message hit the mark in a big way, and helped thousands of Australians cut through the confusion of health insurance! Once again, it's been very satisfying for outside recognition of a job well done by the iSelect staff, and this hot on the heels of being nominated as a finalist for the prestigious 5th Annual Financial Review Australian Internet Awards!
Thanks to you, we're on a roll!
Nov 2000 - You're using an Award nominated website!
After only six months 'live' we are proud to be a finalist in the 5th annual Financial Review Australian Internet Awards. The competition is tough, and the list of judges to impress is long, but it's really rewarding to be so young, yet make it into one of the most prestigious competitions - designed to recognise the achievements of the most innovative and talented people behind website development.
The instant success of this site was our first and most satisfying milestone, because the positive response from the thousands of Australians using our service confirmed we were on the right track. Because all the staff here are in the same boat as you, we understand what you're going through when faced with the complexities of health insurance speak. That's why we continually put our heads together to improve this site and make it 100% user friendly. The Awards will be announced on the 28th November, 2000. We'll keep you posted.
July 2000 - Customer Feedback
Customers have found the iSelect service very useful. Some examples of the positive feedback we have received are:
- I would like to thank you for the friendly and helpful advice that your staff provided me in choosing Private Health Insurance. I have recommended this service to all my friends and would like to wish you all the best of success in the future. (Customer letter - 28 June 2000)
- Thank you for making an onerous task easy and bearable. We'd been putting our decision off for months. (Customer email - 27 June 2000)
- Thanks for providing such an easy to use and extremely useful site. It's made the whole process completely painless!(Customer email - 27 June 2000
- Your site has been a God Send to us, Thanks heaps. (Customer email - 26 June)
We welcome your feedback - info@iselect.com.au
June 2000 - Overwhelming response by Australians
And we are very pleased to say the response has been outstanding. Thousands and thousands of Australians have used our "matching system" to cut through the confusion of health insurance and make a confident, informed choice. Overwhelmingly, our clients are finding it very simple to find great options for them. We constantly get comments like:
"if I'd have know it was this easy, I'd have done it years ago."
"I feel very comfortable with the decision I've made for my family."
"it's a very clever system - and I like that it's free."
June 2000 - How iSelect gets paid
iSelect is not owned or controlled by any participating provider or the Government. Its revenue comes from commissions that health funds pay iSelect for sales originating from iSelect (ie. via this web site or through the call centre). This commission does not alter the price of the policy to consumers and therefore this service is free to you!
June 2000 - Transferring from another fund
There is no cost for transferring between funds. You can transfer between funds and not incur any additional waiting periods. If you are upgrading your cover when you transfer - waiting periods will apply. Please note: No administration fees apply for transferring from one fund to another. When transferring from a fund - the new fund will require a clearance certificate and claims history from your previous fund. When you receive the iSelect application form - it contains a section to complete to allow the fund to request this information on your behalf. All you need to do is sign the appropriate part of the form.
June 2000 - iSelect Officially Launched
The Federal Health Minister, Dr Michael Wooldridge, launched the iSelect service heralding a breakthrough in the way consumers can research and buy private health insurance. It has developed a computer matching system that enables you to match your health fund needs with the thousands of policies on offer to create a short list of the five most suitable funds.
June 2000 - Lifetime Health Cover Deadline Extended to 15 July 2000
The Federal Health Minister, Dr Michael Wooldridge has announced an extension to the Lifetime Health Cover deadline until 15 July 2000. People will now have until 15 July 2000 to apply for hospital cover. Policies will be backdated so new members will still pay premiums as if they joined by 30 June 2000, and the health fund will cover new members from that date.On the iSelect website the "date of application" is deemed to be the date that the on-line application is made and submitted electronically to iSelect. Therefore, iSelect clients are assured that they will avoid Lifetime Health Cover penalties from the moment they submit their application to us.
