Australia’s second-largest private health insurer, Bupa, has recently started offering its members three free GP telehealth consultations a year.

This follows other insurers, such as nib, offering its members digital GP consults for things like prescriptions and medical certificates for a fee.

Yet it is currently illegal for insurers to cover the costs of out-of-hospital services that are also funded by Medicare, which includes GP and specialist visits.

But the insurers may get around this by running their digital health platforms as a separate business rather than as part of the private health plans that are heavily regulated by the government.