Private patients cost taxpayers $600m a year having treatment in puiblic hospitals Christopher Zinn shows you how to make One Big Switch on your health insurance. AMID concerns Australians with health cover are being forced to choose less protection, one of the nations brightest doctors says privately insured patients in public hospitals could be running up a taxpayer-funded treatment bill of nearly $600 million a year. This new analysis by Dr Matthew Anstey of the Harvard Medical School follows a five-fold increase in cheaper "exclusionary" products that leave policy holders relying on the public system. Dr Anstey said private patients comprise about 10 per cent of public hospital admissions - the latest figure is actually 11.6 per cent and rising - at $4700 per stay. Drawing on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, that shows about 125,000 privately insured people are admitted to public hospitals each year but don't use their cover, Dr Anstey estimated a cost to the public system of $588 million a year. Dr Anstey told News Limited that it was possible "people concerned about out-of-pocket expenses would preferentially use the public hospitals and choose Medicare." He pointed to recent research by the ANU's Dr Peter Thomas which highlights the emergence of policies with exclusions _ up from 5 per cent five years ago to 24 per cent now. The Medicare Levy Surcharge was no longer reducing demand on the public hospital system, according to Dr Thomas. It was possible to avoid the surcharge _ a minimum 1 per cent of taxable income for singles on at least $84,000 or families bringing in $168,000 _ with a policy that excludes treatment in private hospitals, he said. "If the person requires hospital treatment, they will have to use the public system," Dr Thomas said. Christopher Zinn explains why you would register with One Big Switch and look at your health insurance options. The Private Health Insurance Administration Council, in a recent discussion paper on industry competition, said: "the increased use of exclusions may also lead to privately insured consumers choosing public hospital treatment, a result that may work against the policy objective of private health insurance in easing the burden on public hospitals." Part of the problem is that many people can no longer afford "full cover." Last month, PHIAC's commissioner Lynn Ralph warned Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek that the "recent rapid rise" of exclusionary policies could indicate "full cover products offered by insurers have reached their price/value limit with more and more policy holders choosing less cover in exchange for lower prices." "Importantly too, policy holders that do choose restricted or limited cover are likely to turn to the public system for those excluded services," Ms Ralph said. News Limited asked Ms Plibersek's office whether the rising cost of private health insurance was putting additional pressure on the public system. A spokesman for Ms Plibersek said: "More people than ever have taken out private health insurance. The Commonwealth government has made record investments in public hospitals across the country. Average increases in private health insurance have been lower under this government than when Tony Abbott was minister. The Big Health Insurance Switch - which aims to deliver the same level of cover for less - has this week attracted more than 50,000 registrations of interest.