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Thousands of Australians insured by Medibank are putting $50 back in their pockets under a $215 million refund to customers following the Covid-19 pandemic.
All eligible customers will receive at least $50, although some could recover up to $360 thanks to their level of coverage.
“On average, it will be around $55 for extras-only policies and around $165 for hospital and extras policies,” Medibank said.
All Medibank holders who have an active hospital and/or extras policy as of June 30 will be eligible for this cashback, which will be paid at the end of September.
However, you must also have been a Medibank member with an active resident hospital policy and/or extras between January 1 and June 30, 2023.
This does not include members with special coverage, such as ambulance-only coverage or overseas coverage.
Those who are eligible do not need to do anything as the money will be sent automatically.
Medibank chief customer officer Milosh Milisavljevic said the company hopes the money “will be good news” for people during the cost of living crisis.
“This will bring the total amount of support Medibank has provided to customers to $1.37 billion through our COVID-19 rebate program, which is the largest rebate of any Australian health insurer,” he said.
Medibank said it has committed to refunding members for claims made due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has been offering customers annual cashback plans since 2020.
“Since the start of the pandemic, our $1.37 billion financial support package has included pausing premium increases, free coverage days and other member support options,” Medibank said.
The news comes shortly after Russian Aleksandr Ermakov was reportedly detained for cybercrimes.
Ermakov was named responsible for the 2022 Medibank hack, where more than 9 million customers had their personal data and health information stolen to be published and sold on the dark web.
He was also linked to the Russian hacking gang REvil and was detained in Russia for unspecified cyber attacks.
Following the attack, Medibank expects the costs of its cybercrimes, such as IT and legal services, to be between $30 million and $35 million this financial year.