wannabauzzienurse

Been here nearly a year and need to sort out some health insurance, just basic cover I think for now, does anyone have any recommnedations or people to avoid, thanks.

wannabauzzienurse

Can no one help

Am I right that if I don't take out health insurance within the first year then I'll pay a 2% surcharge for each year over the age of 30, this is what I'm trying to avoid but running out of time. Also as I'm still on a 457 choice of cover is limited and expensive.

Any thoughts or advise would be appreciated

Cheetah7

All I know is that I received a letter advising me to get private insurance as the deadline for the government loading is 30 June, after that I think I pay more tax or something.

I thought that only affected you if you were on a certain amount of salary but to be honest, we were thinking of getting insurance anyway and we are already with Medibank for dental/extras/ambulance cover so we will probably stick with them and upgrade - it will cost us $213 a month between the two of us for top notch cover.

EvannTel

The surcharge for this tax year is only if combined income is over $100K (I think). Check the ATO website.

I use HBA (BUPA) and theyve been fine so far. Also with basic cover you;ll still have to pay he surcharge I think. You need certain cover levels to negate the surcharge.

This is all off the top of my head so do check as I may be wrong on the detail.

wannabauzzienurse

Thanks for the reply It's all pretty confusing and the more I look into it the more baffled I get

Cheetah7

Well that is what I thought, but my colleague said you still pay more tax and then I got that letter advising me to get insurance.

Mind you, I wasn't going to bother but if we changed jobs and our salary fell into the higher bracket then I suppose it is worth doing now.

Is the yearly salary inclusive of Super or after it has been deducted?

lele.juggins

Avoid Australian Unity - is my advice. They are up there with Telstra!

Caroline G

I'm with Manchester Unity. They are a well know big insurer and I've been happy with them. I've had to make a few claims and they can also pay towards dental etc. if you want that type of policy ie with extras.

I have also heard that HBA are good. It all depends what you want to be insured for, that is, are you going to have children in Aus? your current health, family health history, do you want a dental plan included etc. etc. PMI doesn't cover outpatient treatment as medicare covers this.

I discussed my needs with iselect however I understand they have a limited number of insurers that they promote so won't cover every company.

Caroline

quoll

We have HCF and have had for years - they are OK, nothing to praise to the stars but they have done OK for us. Costs about $230 a month for top cover with excess. Still doesnt cover the gap though but I have been immensely grateful to them on several occasions when I have needed elective surgery and it cost me very little.

Cheetah7

I was discussing this with Mr PP last night, We might be just under the threshold if you dont count our super fund.

But if any of us in the future took a higher paid job then we would be stuffed for higher tax.

So I shall go off to Medibank in my lunch and increase our cover I think.

goldchoccycoin

The other thing to be aware of is that there is no lifetime health loading if you join a health fund within 12 months of becoming a permanent resident - so if you're on a 457 with the plan to get PR I would leave it til then - or at least don't worry about the loading!

Cheetah7

Sorry to be ignorant but is the lifetime health loading the one that is dependent on your salary being over a certain level?



Do we all get affected by a tax increase if we dont have the insurance within the first 12 months? Ive noticed this deadline by June 30th

goldchoccycoin

The Lifetime Health Loading is a percentage increase on policy costs for every year over 30 you are.

The Medicare Surcharge is the extra cost if you earn over $50K (2007-2008 tax year) or $100K (after July1st 2008).

A good place to look to get your head around it all is http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/

You can avoid the Lifetime Health Loading if you get private health within 12 months of getting PR - so if you are 38, you would usually be required to pay an extra 14% for cover. See http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dyna...althCover.aspx

In terms of the medicare levy surchage, if you have earned over $50K this year (2007/08) or over $100K for a family, and you haven't had insurance, you may be required to pay the levy surcharge at 1% of taxable income ($500 on $50K). See http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/info...dicarelevy.htm

I have top hospital and extras cover that has no excess or co-payments and covers just about everything from Cessnock and District Health Benefits Fund (www.cdhbf.com.au) for $95 per month. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

I searched through EVERY policy on http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dyna...byinsurer.aspx using their Standard Information Statements before choosing my policy. It took a few hours but I am happy I did so as I am very confident that I got the best cover for my circumstances.

Sooty and Sweep

Good post,

Thanks, my question is; what if you have a PR visa, you are both aged 40, you have both validated it recently, but have returned back to the UK for a short while, say a year or two maybe up to your last date of entry, much dependent on local circumstances at home.

So you have validated your PR visa, are you now a permanent resident in Oz, or are you just counted as visiting Oz for a holiday? You have not registered with Medicare, where do you stand on the loading.

Thanks.

datamile

Read http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/994i.pdf

Its 12 months after registering for medicare. We took out cheap cover just to extend our decision. You can have insurance breaks ( about 1000 days over your life ) in cover, and still avoid loading