The Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) has published her annual State of the Health Funds Report, providing information on the comparative performance and service delivery of private health insurance funds in Australia for the period from 1 July 2011 – 30 June 2012.

In 2011-12, the issues that caused higher levels of complaints to PHIO were oral information (advice given to members in retail branches or over the telephone); restrictions and exclusions on hospital policies and pre-existing condition waiting periods. There was a decline in complaints about payment delays, premium increases and fund rule changes.

Regulatory data about the funds is contained in PHIAC’s Annual Report on Operations for 2011-2012