{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Brief: International Education Edition","title":"Welcome to the Age of Commission Caps: The OSHC Story","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/2ff7b625\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":297,"description":"The best-kept margin in international education just got cut in half. From 1 July 2026, Australia's new OSHC Deed caps commissions to third-party agents at 12% — down from the 25–27% insurers disclosed in the government's own review. Conrad and Eden break down how a mandatory health product built a referral-platform gold rush, why a flat cap destroys the volume-tier ladder that gave aggregators their negotiating power, and why this is the third intervention in agent commissions in seven months — after December's integrity legislation and the March ban on onshore transfer commissions.\nThe takeaway: Australia has learned to read the industry's money flows, and the method — define the commission, collect the data, cap or ban the distortion — travels free to every other destination. Plus: the invisible pricing layer the cap doesn't touch, whether students will actually see cheaper premiums, and our on-the-record prediction about where the margin migrates next.\nKey points:\nOSHC commissions capped at 12% + GST across all six approved insurers, effective 1 July 2026 — roughly half the previously documented 25–27%\nA flat cap deletes volume tiers — pooled-volume aggregator leverage goes to zero\nThird commission intervention in 7 months: integrity legislation (Dec 2025), onshore transfer commission ban (31 Mar 2026), OSHC cap (1 Jul 2026)\nOver 70% of agent-facilitated onshore transfers went into VET; government modelling expects a third of transfers to stop\nPrediction: the next Deed fight is over service payments, not the 12%\nSources:\nhttps://thepienews.com/from-one-policy-to-100-million-reflecting-on-the-youroshc-journey-and-what-the-oshc-commission-cap-means-for-our-sector/\nhttps://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/overseas-student-health-cover-oshc-resources\nhttps://monitor.icef.com/2025/12/australia-passes-integrity-legislation-sharpens-definition-of-agents-and-agent-commissions/...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/FjS77YWxrsfvnEjPUsSUBpEWO42alxZBOjh3aV0TeGI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80ZTVi/N2Y2N2JlZmZkNTUz/OGM5ZGRjMjFhNDM1/ZDVhNi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}