HIF (Health Insurance Fund) (page 2 of 5)

I really love the customer service from this company. Short wait times and speak with representatives who communicate clearly and effectively. I have used the cover for hospital stays and have found claiming to be really straightforward.
My only issue is that the cost of my same level of cover has doubled in the 6 years I have been with them.

I only need more contact with people to get information and there no available phone or no one answer me in an emergency moment. The customer support is awfull, I will coment more information when I solve my problem

Signed up for maternity cover and called asking for more details regarding maternity and costs ect.
So sick of this insurance company being evasive and not answering simple coverage questions. "What will my policy cover, what won't my policy cover (maternity related), how much will a stay cost me.."
Couldn't even give ball park estimates.
I did have BUPA insurance and claimed more than once for hospital visits with only minor issues.
HIF is a classic example of what is wrong with our health insurance system.
I have sent a few emails regarding my upcoming use of maternity and still the only response i get is "we can put an estimate together if you have item numbers and provider numbers." My Dr isn't interested in going through all the possible item numbers and said don't bother.

I also claimed for extras and that has also been difficult with more paper work and longer time frames than I am used to from previous insurers.

It was reasonable on the first year, and thereafter, the premiums kept going up at ridiculous rates, from $2343 a few years ago and to $2963 now!! I wrote to enquire if there can be any discount from my annual premium. They told me to downgrade to another policy, which is suitable for young women with IVF, maternity & pregnancy benefits. I am a 64 years old man, not a young woman starting my family of babies. I am now looking around to switch back to my other fund.

AVOID these bandits. I would give -5 stars if it was possible.
When you hear of insurers being under fire for selling 'JUNK' insurance policies HIF is mostly likely one of these insurers. I was recently advised I needed to have a basic, minor, common surgery - i was gobsmacked to find the junk policy HIF had sold me did not even cover this basic surgery, the only person more surprised was my GP when I told her i would not get any coverage. She was shocked at how 'terrible' the policy was since most insurers at the most basic level provide coverage for this surgery.
Moral of the story: AVOID HIF! And unlike me - don't find yourself circa $7000 out of pocket because of these bandits.

It is timely that the Federal Government is reviewing the incidence of junk health insurance sellers - hopefully HIF is under close examination with their highly questionable practices and product offerings. Reforms are urgently needed in this sector, and HIF is a contributor to these massive problems.

My husband and I transferred to hif from one of the major health funds due to massive price increases every year. We find hif to be very competitively priced and we like that it is a member's own fund, not a for-profit fund. When I have called, I have found my calls to be answered quite quickly. Lodging an extras claim through the app takes a few weeks to be paid, but I don't find that to be a major issue. I love that I can claim through an app....previous health fund did not even have this capability! Had to post it in or go to a branch. Very happy and have already recommended hif to a friend who joined up.

I rang the office today and the wait time as usual was unacceptable. seems still a staffing problem ??
all i required was a verbal estimate of the amount i expect to receive back after a pathology procedure. verbally i gave hif the provider no-, item number, and the pathology dr;s account amount $. impossible to receive any indication of the refund amount ?. no i have to send into the hif the account and a hif claim form also the medicare form to have it assessed.!!! What if there is no rebate !! all this posting etc for nothing its a big thing for older people to do these things while it would have been so simple to say sorry there is no amount claimable, or yes you could expect about x amount $ refund on your policy and that item number you are claiming...
Lets get with it. Is It so hard to give people a indication of there refund amount>
getting very dis- satisfied.

Spoke to HIF today 2/06/2017 and asked about my dental claim I lodged with smart claim on Monday a week ago. I was told it would take less then 5 business days. It's been longer then that, and was told HIF couldn't even find it in the system yet!!!! So I was told to lodge it again online. So i have lodged two claims for the same claim, to be told your so busy at the moment with claims.... this is always the case! Anytime I lodge I get the same excuse - we are just very busy at the moment.
I'm really disappointed and asked if it could process over the phone as it isn't my fault why I had to wait so long seeing as I normally use HICAPS but your system was DOWN on the day I used it so I had to pay the full amount which is alot of money. Now I'm waiting on my money back asap.

Really disappointed and am looking at changing health funds if this is going to be an ongoing occurrence.

March 14th 2018 Update: Seen the no pregnancy cover advertised on product review rang to join but not allowed!!

I am extremely disappointed and upset and feel HIF are advertising a product that not everyone is able to join!
I am a current member of HIF and am looking to leave now after many years due to the price increase - then discovered the new no pregnancy cover with MID extras and i thought bonus! we are a young family struggling to afford health insurance in general and i called up to join this new cover and was told we can't because we have children already?
I find this extremely discriminative - i have had a hysterecthemy and am no longer able to have children due to a medical issue and to be told i can't have this cover that includes no pregnancy is a insult and unfair.
I am looking at moving covers due to the fact you are unable to offer me this cover you are advertising everywhere yet you don't say that is was not available to me!
SHAME on you HIF!!!!

Called today to discuss my policy, waited 18 minutes to finally talk to someone. Just to be told it was a peak period, this is the second time this has happened. Perhaps you may need to review staffing levels in order to improve customer sercive delivery. Definitely should have looked ALL of the below reviews prior to signing up. Unacceptable customer service.

I transferred to HIF from HBF a few years ago but now I'm wondering why?
Today I rang HIF and I was put on hold for 14 minutes 47 seconds with a recorded message apologising for the delay. This is totally unacceptable and this never happened when I first joined. The service at that time was great, but waiting l4 minutes is just not on. The polite lady who eventually did answer also apologised and I said then HIF need to employ more staff to answer the phones. It better not happen again or I'm moving on once again.

I submitted my Claim over one month ago and have not been paid. The lady I spoke to said that was normal and nothing she could do and it would be another 2 weeks because of how busy they are. With the amount of money we pay and the premium increases every year, the service is along way from being satisfactory. Maybe we should be able to not pay our premiums until our claim has been paid. There is nothing you can do, than just wait until they are ready to pay you.

I always find claiming through the app results in delays in the benefit being paid. Five plus days to process a claim and when I email about it I get a response about an old claim.

It happens every time and it's extremely disappointing because rebate is great but this is frustrating. You really need to look at your turn around time and response to queries.

I just took the family for an annual eye check. I was amazed when told by spec savers that HIF had paid the lot and that I didn't have any OP expenses! that's a pair of reading glasses each and a pair of stylish sunglasses!! HIF you rock! thank you so much !!!! I will definitely recommend you to my f&f.

1.We have found the policy ok for us at this stage in our life and also quite easy to set it all up. Customer support however needs to be looked at.

Having been alerted by the comments that follow, HIF customer support rectified their error within hours. This is pleasing and I have changed the star rating accordingly. Just a pity the first point of contact did not yield the same result:

I have been left extremely frustrated by HIF's lackadaisical approach to my predicament. I am signed up to HIF's 'Super' options and recently paid for two months cover up front to take advantage of paying the lower rate before their premium increased. Today, with a rare day off scheduled tomorrow, I decided to book an appointment with the dentist. I then went into HIF's member area online to discover that as far as HIF are concerned, my membership is due for renewal today. This means it will be overdue tomorrow, the day of my scheduled visit. This means my HICAPS claim will not be honoured. Obviously flawed as I have paid upfront for another two months down the line. Having double checked my bank transactions, this was confirmed. I then contacted HIF only to be told to send them an email notifying them of the issue and that it would likely be looked at within a few days. In spite of explaining that it was a matter of urgency given my appointment tomorrow, they could not look into the matter right away. Why? It is their fault and it should be a fairly straightforward procedure. One would imagine they would accept that the onus would be on them to investigate the matter immediately. I am a father working 50 to 60 hour weeks. Days off are rare and the opportunity for dentist appointments rare. I will now have to cancel my appointment and waste very precious time off proving to HIF that I have indeed paid them for the forthcoming two months. Not happy HIF. Just the sort of incident that makes people start shopping around for insurance funds that treat their customers with a little more respect.

I rarely write reviews about things but felt the need to write a positive one about HIF. After being fed up with the lack of value I was getting from BUPA and the increasing restrictions of which health providers I could see, I contacted a third party health insurance reviewer and whilst reluctant to go through the process, I am actually glad the operator found HIF for me.

I have had no issues with HIF since signing up, all my waiting periods were matched and I have received more value from HIF than I would have ever done with my previous fund. There are rarely any 'preferred' providers which allows me to choose which health professionals I would like to see. I have only ever once had to call customer support and whilst there was a long wait via telephone (I rang late on a Friday afternoon!), I eventually ended up emailing their team and got a prompt response.

My disclaimer is that for the specific extras I use and because I do not need extensive hospital cover, I have only good things to say about HIF. Their claiming system is extremely easy and rebates get deposited electronically within a few days.

Admittedly the increase in premiums for the upcoming year were a bit steep but I have chosen to prepay for the next few months which saves me some money. Whilst still happy with HIF, I do research regularly as to what other health funds are offering and I am yet to find a better policy for my life circumstances at this point in time.

Excellent value, easy to set up, unbeatable Customer Support. Would highly recommend HIF. Was recommended to us by a third party Health Insurance reviewer and moved across after almost 15 yrs with another provider. Claim submitted and paid seamlessly. Customer service second to none (after a considerable wait but first thing consultant did was apologise for the wait). Overall, extremely professional.

30 minutes waiting over the phone with annoying ads and then it dropped. No "leave your number and we'll call you back" service. Email not replied within 24 hours. Apparently they've got now loads of clients and became unreachable :(

I've been a member with HIF for a few years now. This is the first year where there has been such a massive increase in premiums. My premium has gone up by 17% for combined cover! I understand that costs have gone up but the price increases are getting ridiculous. The excuse that price increases were limited years ago doesn't hold if you have to massively increase your prices in the following years. Better financial management would have seen these prices spread out over time. We're still also waiting for HIF to remove pregnancy cover from their premium products which they indicated years ago they would do to bring down the costs for those who have no intention of having children. This would be one way to reduce pricing for members.

A warning note to everyone on HIF 2017 premium increases. They are going up by a whopping 22.5%!!! I joined earlier this week having not been informed by HIF of their intension to increase their premiums by such an amount. Today I found out the truth and immediately cancelled my policy.
How has the Federal Govt allowed HIF to increase their premiums by so much?