Health Care Insurance
 

Hi I've been looking for Health Care Insurance for a family with basic hospital cover including ambulance cover for the Mandurah area. Have looked at the comparisons sites - what a confusing range. Anyone got any experience/recommendations? Would be appreciated.

Thanks Oz

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

We use HCF, they have been very good in the limited number of dealings we have had with them since arriving. I'm not sure of their WA coverage, they seem - historically at least - to have been east coast-centric.

Like all things insurance, the real proof comes when you need to make a significant claim; I have no experience of that, to date, sorry.

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

Hi, I can offer some experience.
I signed up for HIF and had been paying them for a coupe years when I needed a hernia surgery.
So I went in and saw the doc, gave him my insurance details and thought, great I'll be covered.
Yeah, not so much.
Although covered for hospital care, I later found out no one covers you for anything else such as the consultant visits, ultrasound scans and some of the hospital as well.
In fact they seem to push all charges into areas that you have to pay so it doesn't come under insurance. The only think that was covered was the surgery itself.
Even some fees in the hospital weren't covered. On arriving I was told I had to pay $200 straight away, as this was a one off excess everyone has to pay each year.
Drugs given to me in the hospital wasn;t covered.
The anesthitian wasnt covered, I had to pay him
Two consultant visits
Two doctors visits
One scan at a radiological clinic

So even though I had insurance, a large portion of the bills wasn't covered. They tell me this is common for every insurance provided.

I had no idea.
So when a friend tells me, oh you should just have said you have no insurance and it would have all been free. I was quite annoyed!

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

What? So in short the benefit of having private health insurance is what?

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

An elaborate scheme that offers little more than the ability to pay some of your tax in monthly instalments.


S

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

Stick the monthly premiums in a bank account and forget about it for a rainy day, its a gamble but so is insurance. At least you hold the bank that way.

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

That's great if you're earning beneath the Surcharge threshold - if not, then you are better off with a worthless policy to avoid the tax.


S

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

So is there a point in talking it out? If I have to go in for an operation that is not covered what happens as opposed to going in for an operation under the public system?

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

With private you should get it quicker and be able to choose your surgeon but may well have to pay out extra that insurance doesn't cover.

Basically Medicare is similar to the NHS. In the U.K. We did not have private insurance but had savings that allowed us to go private when we wished. We do the same here, have our own private fund.

Much will depend on your own personal circumstances and earnings.

You will have 12 months after arriving to decide, after which you may find it will cost much more depending on yo ur age.

When I consider how much we would have had to pay in premiums, we are well up on the deal here after 3 and a half years. We have had physiotherapy , dental work, scans and other bits and pieces. Still cost us less than premiums would have, plus we may well have had gap to pay!

If you are higher earners then it makes more sense, but to be honest to avoid big gaps you need expensive cover.

I have some friends that swear by private and use it to the hilt ( often more than really necessary) and others that have never had private and manage just fine, paying for the odd thing.

One thing to note is that ambulance cover can be worth getting in most states as they are not free!

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

Thanks for that. So in short if you dont have top cover insurance you could be up for a lot of gap payments etc. The only downside is not picking the surgeon, private room and not being on a waiting list. Taking out a basic hospital cover would be mostly covered by our lower tax in the main. Ambulance cover is about $200 pa I believe on its own. Am still confused about the worthiness of health cover that is not "Gold" standard ie budget cover.

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

If you earn over a certain amount (I can't recall what it is, but memory is suggesting to me it's $90k, and double that for couples) the government will slug you with an extra 1-1.5% tax called the Medicare Levy Surcharge.

This extra tax is waived if you have an acceptable Hospital 'insurance' policy. So a lot of people take out the base level cover to minimise the tax. A base policy will cost you about $1000, so you need to calculate if it's worth taking given your income.


S

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

My latest quote from BUPA for family health insurance was $6,600 per year, or $550 per month and that was fairly basic cover. In contrast our extra Medicare Levy Surcharge is about $1700 per year. The way I look at it is that I am paying a good contribution to Medicare, supporting the system and saving almost $5k per year on insurance. That $5k saved over a ten year period is a substantial amount - that's the gamble.

Everybody's situation is different, but for me paying for insurance just doesn't add up. On the odd time we have needed hospital medical care, the public system has been first class and well worth the Extra Medicare Levy we pay for it. In my opinion, if everyone supported Medicare and contributed in full there would be no need for a private system at all.

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

What Swerv-o said. Here's the ATO link:

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/M...evy-surcharge/

We don't have private insurance, we already pay for the public health system.

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

Also worth mentioning you pay a 2% charge for every year over 30 where you haven't been paying private insurance. So if you haven't had it before you might get an extra 14% charge.
After you have been paying for 10 years this extra charge is removed.
What a rip off

Re: Health Care Insurance
 

Ambulance cover may depend where you live. In Victoria, for example, it's only $89.90 a year for a family for full ambulance cover - well worth it x