Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE ACT 2007 - SECT 84.1

  (1)   A person commits an offence if:

  (a)   the person:

  (i)   advertises a * product; or

  (ii)   offers a person insurance under a policy; or

  (iii)   insures a person under a policy; or

  (iv)   arranges for another person to do a thing mentioned in subparagraph   (i), (ii) or (iii); and

  (b)   the insurance under the policy, or under a policy in the product, is * health insurance business; and

  (c)   the policy is not a * complying health insurance policy; and

  (d)   the * health insurance business is not business of a kind specified in the Private Health Insurance (Complying Product) Rules as excluded from subsection   63 - 1(1).

Penalty:   1,000 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years, or both.

  (2)   In imposing a penalty on a private health insurer for an offence under subsection   (1), the court:

  (a)   must have regard to the possible impact of a penalty on the insurer's capital adequacy, solvency and the level of premiums for its * complying health insurance products; and

  (b)   must not impose a penalty if satisfied that doing so would adversely affect the insurer's capital adequacy or solvency, or be likely to lead to an increase in premiums for its products.