Teri

Hey there!

Just trying to work our way through the docs and trying to pick a medical insurance - currently hovering over Medibank...??

But then I said to hubby - why we stressing - the expats will tell us who to go to!! So - please don't let me down folk!! We are a family of 3 - hubby and myself with a 9 year old.

Thanks

stevemich

Hi there - although I have no experience of any particular providers, you may want to check out www.iselect.com.au that does a price comparison for most of the major (and minor) companies.

Good luck!

Steve

ABCDiamond

Not sure if this helps, results from an Australian web site that did a survey with the question:

If you have private health insurance, which fund do you belong to?

Medibank Private 17.7%
NIB 2.9%
HCB 1.6%
MBF 7.6%
Australian Unity 1.6%
Others 15.5%
I don`t have private health insurance 46.5%
I don`t want to answer this question. 6.4%

JohnAndNetta

We looked at lots of insurance companies. It really depends very much on your own personal circumstances, how seriously you take medical insurance and what you can afford. There are aother things to take into account such as obstetrics - we didn't need this and found it difficult to find an Insurance company that lowered the premiums by offering a non-obstetric policy.

Medibank seems to be a very popular scheme but after long chats with Iselect and a huge amount of research we are choosing Australian Unity. They seem to pay out a lot more than most, the gap charges are the lowest (so it would seem), particulary when you compare the ancillaries. Download a few brochures from the Internet for comparison. We also enrolled in the Choice magazine (equivalent of UK's Which magazine) which discussed the pros and cons of a few of the bigger health insurance companies, but didn't review ancillaries.

I would start by having a really good chat with Iselect. They were REALLY helpful and take into account all your circumstances. Yes - they work on commission but you won't get the premiums any cheaper if you go directly to the Insurance company yourself - I tried.

Australian Unity was our choice as we were looking for top of the range, everything covered, minimal wait times, etc, and they really fit the bill. They are expensive (for the options we chose), but health insurance is paramount in our lives as both my husband and myself have lived with a lot of tragedy involving close family members, who would have been provided with much better treatment had they have had good private health insurance. As I say -its a very personal thing.

So start with ISELECT and Good Luck - its an absolute minefield out there with so many different choices and schemes. It gave me a real headache!!

Best wishes

Netta

markaren

Been with medi bank private for a about six years now,it covers 2 adults 3 children, would'nt say they were the best, I.m sure other people will have there opinons so this is just mine.

Dont expect the cover to cover everything, we have the top benifit you can get and you can still have gap to pay sometimes, though saying that went to the dentists the other day had a tooth pulled and they gave me moneymind you you have to find a dentist who bills them directly, they just swipe the Medibank card and its done instantly, other wise you would have to pay and claim back, up to 200 you can get back cash, over that they send it by check. My daughters brace was just over 4 grand and we have had about 1400 back, mind you we were told to sunmitt the bill again next year as she reached her limit for 1 year and we could claim again. its not cheap though started off at about $130 a month and its now $185 seems to be going up every year at the moment, gone up $55 over the six years, might not seem that much, until you start earning dollars

When we took it out the government were paying 30% dont know if they are still doing it, I think they were just trying to get people to go private rather than using medicare, look closely at what you claim for because it can sometimes work out cheaper to go the medicare route for some things.

At the end of the day would rather have as not, and if you work it right the family allowance everyone gets for the kids will pay for it.

Wol

If you're over 30 make sure that you sign up ASAP because you get an exemption from the 2% per year of age premium loading. ie., if you're 50 when you start it would otherwise be 40% more expensive!

MrsDagboy

Just one comment about using Iselect - it does not cover most of the major health funds like MBF, Medibank Private, HBA etc.

I agree with Netta & Markaren, I personally wouldn't do without health insurance. If you are fit & healthy & have no medical problems that's all well & good, but as soon as something hits you that you arent expecting, it pays for itself time & time again.

jumbo

In fact iselect only covers about 6 companies all of which are small and need iselect to help them get business. Ask iselect about this - they were very open about this when pushed.

Regards

JohnAndNetta

Yes that's very true however.

The CHOICE magazine (equivalent of UK WHICH magazine) made a comparison using the following Insurance companies for QLD :

Australian Health management, Australian Unity, GMHBA, HBA, HCF, Latrobe , Health Partners, MBF, Medibank Private, NIB, NRMA Health, St Lukes Health.

In my opinion between CHOICE and ISELECT I think I had covered what I believed to be the main ones. I'm not so sure that ISELECT uses small companies, I just think that Medibank are so huge (or have the majority of members) that all other companies look relatively small, but I might be wrong.

What other companies would you recommend that the original poster consider in their comparison? I'm curious in case I've missed some (then I'd be kicking myself!)

Regards

Netta

ABCDiamond

The I-select web site quotes:

We provide product recommendations from the following health funds:

Australian Health Management
Australian Unity
HCF
Manchester Unity
NIB

It is half way down http://www.iselect.com.au/health_insurance_faq.htm# where it says:
"Which funds are available through iSelect?

iSelect constantly scans the marketplace looking for high value health insurers companies. iSelect has assembled a first class range of participating health funds offering over 2,500 policy combinations. This is the largest range of health insurance policies offered in one place in Australia." Click on the bold type at the actual page.

It does raise an interesting point. You get 2,500 policy combinations from just 5 Insurers !! No wonder it is confusing

JohnAndNetta

It does raise an interesting point. You get 2,500 policy combinations from just 5 Insurers !! No wonder it is confusing [/QUOTE]


That's why I got a bad headache! It took me about a month to work out the best for us. All in all I must have spent at least 2 full days reading brochures and speaking to Iselect and insurance companies. I'm still not entirely convinced I chose the best one, but it certainly suits our needs and I started getting really cheesed off with the whole thing. I guess one day I'll revisit the whole thing and find out I could have saved a fortune, but for the first couple of years (at least) I will bury my head in the sand.

On the good side - health insurance does seem to be considerably cheaper than the UK. Oh - and we got $140 Myers vouchers to spend (factored into the premiums somewhere I dare say!!)

cheri-pie

Does that mean that BUPA do not cover Australia?

We both have existing medical conditions and have had to stay with BUPA here to ensure cover. If we change insurers we probably wouldn't be covered for what we need the most. (hope that makes sense)

I must admist I haven't looked into the medical insurance yet, I just presumed we could carry on with BUPA. Does anyone know what I should do?

Cheers
Cheri x

JohnAndNetta

Interesting one - I think you'll find that BUPA don't do Australia but they do do International. However there are some tax implications if you take out an International policy - I think it's after the first year. I can't remember the exact details but if you phone BUPA they are quite knowledgeable about it.

We were with AXA PPP in the UK and converted our policy to an International one, when we moved to Oz. This is because my hubbie is receiving treatment for a worn vertebrae and we wanted to continue the treatment. You cannot continue an International policy indefinitely if you are permanently resident, but my husband is on a 27 month career break from the UK so its more of a necessity (in case we go back home)


We have also signed up with Australian Unity at the same time. We didn't want to screw up our 'lifetime cover' which penalises consumers by 2% on top of a base rate payment for every year they delay taking out private health insurance after the age of 30. You have 12 months (as a new permanent resident) to take out private health insurance to prevent this from happening, and in our case it would be quite significant as we are both approaching 45.

This was a very expensive way of ensuring continued cover but remember that the majority of Australian health insurers exempt you from making claims on their ancillary insurance for up to twelve months for certain conditions (and of-course for pre-existing conditions too). Every insurance company is different and will have different exemptions and wait times. Read the small print very carefully. Hope this helps

Best wishes
Netta

cheri-pie

Thanks for taking the time to reply Netta, it is a great help.

I hope I can be as helpful to people one day

Cheri x

BillBart1

thanks for bringing up this subject, this has been on my mind for a while.

Bill