One Big Switch Health Insurance campaign Philip Oliver and Suzie Szabo with their daughter Mia Oliver at home in Bexley. The family are caught out by legislation regarding health insurance penalties. Picture: Greenhill Craig Source: News Limited IN THE four weeks since the launch of the first discount health insurance open to all Australians, 120 people an hour have joined. Consumer network One Big Switch, which has been negotiating with insurers to strike the best offer, remains confident of achieving the targeted 10 per cent off a range of polices from a leading provider. Such a discount would save a family more than $400 while a single would be more than $200 better off. Campaign director Christopher Zinn said the registration period had been extended while the offer was being finalised. "Before we make the offer available, there are all the processes that have to be built, secured, tried and tested so they actually work," Mr Zinn said. He said the extension meant registrations could reach 100,000. Christopher Zinn explains why you would register with One Big Switch and look at your health insurance options. So far the Big Health Insurance Switch campaign has highlighted: Gap payments have soared $580 million in the past three years to $4.5 billion; A huge jump in the number of policies with exclusions; People with private cover are using an estimated $600 million a year in public hospital services to avoid out-of-pocket expenses; Insurers are reporting an increase in people downgrading cover because of premium increases; The number of people using the official comparison site, privatehealth.gov.au, has soared by more than 50 per cent in a year; More than 230,000 Australians face an unexpected tax bill because of confusion over private health insurance; and The financial punishment for taking out cover after the age of 30 is set to skyrocket to an average $385, with 1.1 million Australians penalised. Suzi Szabo and Philip Oliver are set to be added to that number. After the birth of their daughter, Mia, last year, they want to move to family cover. While Ms Szabo, 32, has had private health insurance for many years, Mr Oliver has no cover, which means they will be stung with a 16 per cent loading of Lifetime Health Cover loading on a family policy. "I'm hoping that One Big Switch can help," Ms Szabo said. I want to get bub covered by health insurance. One Big Switch's Mr Zinn said the campaign had prompted many people to become more engaged with their health cover, which was a good thing. Christopher Zinn shows you how to make One Big Switch on your health insurance. QLD: FOUR of the top five postcodes for sign-ups to the Big Health Insurance Switch are from Queensland. Despite having millions fewer people, the Sunshine State is within sight of NSW as the single-largest source of registrations. More than 20,000 Queenslanders have joined the campaign compared to 22,000 in NSW. There have been more sign-ups from postcode 4350 - Toowoomba - than any other in Australia. No.2 is postcode 4551, which includes Caloundra. NSW: NSW leads the way in sign-ups for the Big Health Insurance Switch. About 22,000 have joined the campaign - equal to the population of Armidale. A further 1000 ACT residents have joined. SA: THE Big Health Insurance Switch has proven more popular in South Australia than anywhere else in the country, with SA sign-ups running at twice the rate as in NSW. About 10,000 South Australians are among the 80,000 to have joined the campaign. The top SA postcode for sign-ups is 5159, covering Aberfoyle Park, Chandlers Hill, Flagstaff Hill and Happy Valley. VIC: ABOUT 18,000 Victorians are among the 80,000 to join the Big Health Insurance Switch. WA: MORE than 4000 West Australians are among the 80,000 to join the Big Health Insurance Switch. TAS: MORE than 2000 Tasmanians are among the 80,000 to join the Big Health Insurance Switch.