Young Australians are abandoning private health insurance in droves. And the overall decline in the percentage of the population with private coverage is continuing.

New data for the three months to the end of 2019, released yesterday by the private health insurance regulator, show that compared with the same time a year ago, 44,000 fewer young people (aged 25 to 34) have private health insurance.

The percentage of the population with some form of private hospital insurance is down 0.7 percentage points compared to the December quarter in 2018 and now stands at 44.0%.

The private health insurance industry is in a dire predicament, and people who remain in private health insurance also stand to lose out.

But the industry’s argument a youth exodus will put massive amounts of additional pressure on public hospitals doesn’t stack up. The industry’s self-serving claims are simply designed to bolster its case for yet more government handouts.

Read the full article on The Conversation.