kporte

I never bothered with the private insurance and am at the moment being treated on the public cover.

I live 35 min from the hospital by car. My wife called for an Ambulance just before midnight last Saturday evening. I was diagnosed and comfortable in a bed, with pain relief by just after 1 am Sunday morning.
I don't care what system of care you are used to, that is extremely good.
The care has been extensive and I dare say, expensive, but I pay nothing.
They even told my wife to take the existing meds I am on, home with her, as they will provide those too.

I think that dental and optical etc are hugely expensive however, as will some other things be.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I must admit I'm seriously thinking about pulling the plug on my private cover and switching some of the payments into a full blown dental plan. The dental work we have had done since arriving in Australia has been, to my mind anyway, extortionate.

ABCDiamond

That does sound good.

We have just paid out $7,300 for invisalign braces. The braces that aren't braces and can't be seen.

But then, not sure how much would be repayable on a dental plan anyway.

And if someone says they know one that pays out 100%, don't tell me ! But do explain why you didn't tell me a year ago, so I could have taken it out !!!

kjj

About 5/6 years ago 9when I was 26-27) I had private health care cover with Bupa, as an adult with no existing health problems, at that time it was costing me £40 per month, I stopped it as it kept increasing year on year. This premium supposedly has a 25% discount on it as well because I was an NHS employee, so £130 for 2 adults and 2 kids doesn't sound too bad to me.
KJJ

1968_karen

Has anyone got cover just for dental and optical?

I have been trying to find this, but am not having any luck.

Thank you.

IndieG

I paid about $65 (after the rebate) and that was just to get a referral to see a specialist. The specialist would have cost me another $120 out of pocket and that too after a wait of 4 weeks (she was fully booked). As it was not urgent I decided to get it all sorted on my holiday in India - $15 to see a top neuro-physician

I don't plan to get private cover.....will self insure.

Petals

You can get cover for just the extras i e optical, dental, physio and we had it for a longish time and did ok with orthodontic treatment for our son however as time went on we found it was not economical for us to have it anymore and pulled the plug. The return on dentist was woeful.

We have a medical account which we put our money into just like paying for health insurance and if we need to get something done we use that money. We hope we do not need to use it then its ours. I would say we are well ahead at this point in time.

If we need an examination we just pay for it, we have found that its cheaper the docs have set fees and with the medicare rebate for the medical part we are not out of pocket very much. Private health insurance does not cover any part of the medical treatment, its simply the private hospital and private clinic facilities that it covers. Because people go private the docs put up their fees though so that is why you find a lot have a big gap to pay.

I know all about these extras because my parent had full cover Dad went into the private hospital for an emergency op, they came to us that evening and said we cannot look after him here he will have to be transferred to public, he was, he unfortunately did not make it and my mum got bills from doctors she had no idea who they were for months afterwards until I sorted it for her. It was thousands.

Remember with private every procedure is billed for so there can be an extra cost on every blood test etc .

As a rider private health may get you that knee op quicker but it will not get you to see the specialist quicker, you just have to wait like everyone else till they have an appointment available.

fish.01

That's a private specialist, not a public one.

IndieG

If the waiting period to see a private practitioner is 4 weeks then I shudder to imagine what it would be for a public specialist....

Also where I live there are no bulk billing general physicians.

ABCDiamond

My wife had to see a specialist, our GP booked her for both the public system and a private one.
The public system appointment came up first, within just a few days

What area do you live in with no Bulk Billing GP ?
79.0% of all Australian GP attendances were bulk billed in 2008

HelenTD

My husband gets top of the table private medical cover as part of his employment package. If he chose not to take it, he wouldn't receive the money instead, so as he gets the cover, we all use it. We've had various procedures done and it's been invaluable for the kids, as they have both needed extensive occupational therapy and seen other specialists. There are waiting times for private and public appointments: 7 months recently for one public appointment, and 5 months for a private one. There is a huge under-supply of various health professionals in WA. It costs about $100 for an allied health appointment and we get about $70 back from the health fund. The alternative is usually a long wait before your child gets treatment: if the problem is affecting them educationally and socially, then you pay up if you can.

We go to about 3 different GP practices, depending on whether it's a quick appointment needed for the kids near school, or me seeing a doctor near uni, or whoever's got an appointment available (it's often a week before I can get an appointment). Our usual GP sometimes bulk bills for appointments, but usually his practice and the other two we use, charge about $70, before the rebate. I've had a bit of trouble with Medicare, so we usually pay up front and claim later.

fish.01

Sure. Though I don't think it is as black and white as some think. Work checking out as you may be surprised. Sometimes bad but often quite good depending on your location.

A lot of people confuse private and public so hopefully we can be clear which is which. That out of pocket of $120 for the private specialist would be also attract a public medicare rebate which makes it appear like the public system to some.

lesleys

Do people outside Qld all have ambulance insurance? (in Qld everyone pays it on the electricity bill).

ABCDiamond

People in most other States have to take out an Ambulance insurance policy.

quoll

Well I live in Canberra and you cant get one for love nor money here. There are a few in special settings like drug and alcohol but otherwise they are scarcer than hens teeth - it's hard enough to get into one who charges!

I have done a straw poll of people that I work with and (all bar one are Aussie natives) none of them go to bulk billing doctors and all said that they would not hunt around for one and they couldnt believe that people were so helll bent on getting bulk billed (bloody migrants!!! was muttered a couple of times!). Must be something to do with Canberra!