Jul 2, 2026 – 5.48pmLabor has proposed a major shake-up of private health insurance by simplifying the thousands of types of products on the market, slashing waiting times to access pregnancy cover and forcing funds to share the risk pools for maternity and mental health services.In a consultation paper released on Thursday, the government said the 5000 different private health insurance products on the market were unnecessarily complex and confusing for customers. It proposed removing so-called “plus” products and eliminating or consolidating other product tiers.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles