The Private Health Insurance Ombudsman’s 2011 Annual Report notes a significant increase in overall complaint numbers

The Ombudsman comments that “the issues in 2010-11 where there was an increase in complaints include level of cover, fund rule changes and general service issues. The increase in complaints about these issues is not across all insurers, but is generally confined to two or three of the larger insurers, who made changes to their products last year that affected large numbers of members.”

The Report makes recommendations and contains case studies relating to communicating changes in hospital cover.