23/04/2025
Help Stop Gender Discrimination in Private Health
Insurance *FINAL DAY TO SIGN - please sign and share widely*
✍🏻 Sign the petition to protect women’s right to safe, specialist-led care.
As someone who values quality health care, you understand how important it is to have access to the doctor of your choice, especially for maternity and gynaecological care. But right now in Australia, the system is failing women.
➡️ Private maternity units are closing across the country due to unfair funding.
➡️ Women must hold gold-level private health insurance for over 12 months to choose
their own obstetrician.
➡️ And crucially, private maternity services are excluded from the Risk Equalisation Pool
(REP) — a key funding mechanism in private health.
This is gender discrimination — and it’s affecting care for women and babies nationwide.
What is the Risk Equalisation Pool❓
The REP helps balance costs across private health insurers by pooling claims for:
• Hospital treatment
• Hospital-substitute care
• Chronic disease management
But maternity care is excluded — despite being a core health service. This policy means insurers receive no support for maternity costs, making these services more expensive. That’s why private maternity care is disappearing and why so many women are losing choice and access.
What needs to change❓
Parliamentary Petition EN7227 calls on the Federal Government to include obstetric and gynaecological services in the REP.
This one reform would:
✅ End funding discrimination against women
✅ Help keep private maternity units open
✅ Make specialist-led care more affordable and accessible
✅ Ensure fair, equitable support for women across all stages of life
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