Feeling Positive - Not!
 

Hate that americanism to open the thread....but here goes

A few of us out here (AUS) contact each other privately, but we actually like this forum and trying to help one another. Well to my point - the ones who have been here for a short time have issues and questions we would like to present, but sometimes are actually scared that if we say we have these problems we might be shouted down or told we should go home!!!

So just a point - can we ask these possibly negative points and get responses from people who have information without being tarred with label such as 'troll' and negative nellie.

My fear at the moment after being here for a while (one year) is that I want to leave my current employment which currently supplies full health insurance for all my family. I am going to have to provide this for myself if I change jobs and it is scarey - how do I find the best cover wihtout paying through the roof. I was so used to going to my doctor in the UK and not having a chequebook. Now I have to consider all sorts of problems whilst choosing health care insurance......where do I start. I keep thinking at least I am a UK resident ....if anyone gets very ill at least I can go back and get care. Please this is not a thread to start the pros and cons of the NHS and the UK it is a real question....how do I cover my family properly here? Thinking about my kids I have the many expenses coming up of teeth, general check ups, telling my daughter about birth control (hopefully not until she is 21 :scared: ) all the things I knew about how the UK medical system worked in the UK but do not know here. If I advise her or my son they can always talk to their doctor - do I have to provide the cheque/money first? Please help!

Cheers Sandra

PS I cannot believe I am the only one who would like to know the answers here - and do not have enough close friends yet to ask so have to broadcast on this forum!! :eek:

ta for support

Hi Sandra

We took out private health cover when we arrived. We compared a number of health care providers before deciding on HIF. I think our annual cost is $763.33 for comprehensive cover which covers the cost of ambulances and full ancillary cover (dential, optical etc).

You probably already know that there are waiting periods before some of the benefits kick in, but I can't remember if this varied between providers.

Our cover even provides membership to a local gym (which I've not taken up!!)....I think they like to try to keep you healthy :D

If you cannot find a doctor that 'bulk bills' then you will usually pay a fee at the consultation, some of which you can claim back through medicare. eg, my doctor charges $30 but I get back $25 from medicare.

I understand, but have not much experience of, that hospitals can be expensive but if you are covered by your health care plan you only usually pay an 'excess'; however my doctor has referred me to the local medicare hospital (Royal Perth) for my check ups with an oncologist and this hasn't cost me anything.

I hope this has helped a bit!

love sophia xx

Brilliant Sophia

Thank You

If I can bother you some more - how did you find them? Though I will check them out ta, web, phone recommendation?

How are you finding things in Rockingnham ?

agains thanks Sandra

Hi Sandra,

I don't have any answers for your questions but can tell you that posting any problems you are encountering will not get you shouted down.

You have probably seen that many of us here have started to meet and discuss our fears and concerns, usually hosted in a nearby pub :beer:

Having attended the largest of these meetings, the Essex Girls meet, attended by 40 + families (Thanks Steve and Eve) I can tell you that the general consensus from those I spoke to was that they appreciated all the feedback, good and bad. There was a disappointment that a notable few choose to abuse the forum for their own personal ends, but they were well known and many had decided to ignore contributions from those individuals

Good luck in resolving your dilemma and to you and your friends I say post any questions you may have however negative. We will all want to know the answer.

Bill (Sindys Husband)

Hi Sandra

I asked everyone I met who they used/liked/disliked etc. I also went through the yellow pages and got a number of them to send me out the info, then, just decided what we wanted cover for then compared the various plans that suited us. Quite simple really. Of course, these sorts of things are usually governed by 'confusopolys' which doesn't help matters much!! LOL

We are loving Rockingham. We've just bought a house closer to the beach than where we were renting, so think we've got a good investment (especially as it will be walking distance to the new railway link....if they ever actually get around to doing it!!). Just have to get the PINK kitchen and Peach bathroom ripped out and we're sorted ;)

Hows things in Sydney? I was born there and would have liked to have live there but the real estate prices are horrendous!! (bloody parents...they had a unit at the bottom end of Benboyd Road, Neutral Bay...just imagine what it's worth now!!!) DAMN!!

love sophia xx




;)

If you go to http://www.movingdownunder.co.uk/files/medical.php

and click on medicare link that is the HIC site. Maybe of some use.

Sophia, which company is the one you use? and does that cover your kids as well? I thought it would be more than that.

Hi paulf

The policy is with HIF and includes me, my husband and our 3 year old son. There are obviously more expensive options available, but this policy is the one that suited us best.

You need to bear in mind though that there is a pre-existing ailment rule, so that means I'm not covered for cancer (even if it occurs elsewhere from the original breast cancer) and that could work out expensive. But like Sandra pointed out, I could always just travel back to UK for any treatment I reckon.

Check out these for comparisons:

www.hif.com.au
www.sgio.com.au/health
www.hbf.com.au
www.mbf.com.au
www.phio.org.au
www.medibank.com.au


love sophia xx

Sandra - just read your original thingy bobbin. I agree with you. It's like some subscribers think that if you dare to suggest that Oz isn't all pools and sun and low crime and the streets are paved with big houses and gold you are tarred with being negative nellie. The other thing that gets my goat is the way that people think they have a right to slag off the UK as if it were a cess pit of crime, drugs and was one big car park. Problems and wonderful things exist in UK and Oz and choosing to live in either (or stay) is a life style choice and just cos you choose one over the other that doesn't make the one you leave a sort of Sodom and Gommorah and the one you chose to go to the Garden of Eden. I await the slagging off.

Elaine (Adelaide soon)

We are going through the same sort of thing Sandra. We've been here for just over a year now and are wondering if we should get a private health fund. Most people I have spoken to are just with Medicare as they say they could afford any fees. I'm still confused as to how the medicare system works. I know you have to pay the GP I have had experience with that, I paid $10 then medicare sent me a cheque made out to the doctor for the rest, I just dropped it in to the surgery. But what happens if you go to casualty or need an operation? Some people say it is the same as NHS (apart from paying for ambulance if needed), you just go there, get seen by a doctor, have anything done necessary and don't pay anything as its all taken care of by medicare but I'm still not sure about this. When you read the private healthcare funds documents it reads as if medicare doesn't cover lots of stuff like theatre fees, x rays etc, but I think maybe it does I'm just getting confused with all the wording!!!

Also on a more personal note, I was used to the doctor in the UK sending me appointments for things like smear test, kids vaccines etc. how do they work here, do you have to remember whats due when and book appointments yourself? My doctors only seen me once so I guess they wouldn't know about my past check ups anyway, so I guess its up to me to go and do it, or at least talk to the surgery about it, but its one of those things you keep putting off.

anyway, I have read the medicare website over and over again and am still none the wiser!! or am I just thick!! Hopefully health cover will be provided when my husband goes permanent with the government department he is working for (contracting at the mo) so I won't have to worry about it then!!

mandy

I for one agree. Some of the comments I hear on this forum make al-quada sound reasoned!:eek: Both countries have their good points and bad points, things that we will like and dislike in each. Its a shame some people can't see that....

I have to get medical nsurance before we go as we are getting a 410 visa and I have found the most economical one that still covers lots of things is Australian Unity

I also tried Medibank and HBA (which is BUPA)

but their paperwork was very confusing.

I e-mailed Australian Unity with several questions and they always answered - sometimes not very clearly but when I answered I wrote what I though they meant and they either confirmed or denied and explained further. Good luck

Sandra. Post all the Questions you want. Totally ignore any idiot who puts you down, you are living here and know that its not all beachy peachy.

This forum is for people who live here after all! Intending residents of OZ should be made most welcome, but they have the problem not you if they do not belive what you are saying! Soon they will be living here and will know exactly what you mean.



.

Plus there's Manchester Unity
http://www.manchesterunity.com.au

Alternatively you could use an 'advisor' - we are currently looking at using a local (Brisbane) agent for the Morris Cox Group
http://www.morriscox.com.au/

Not decided on this yet (we are cautious types) - but the local advisor has given some good advice so far.

Also note that with the recent goverment announcement about Medicare reforms it seems that bulk billing will become increasingly rarer. Instead you'll be able to pay just the 'gap' (above medicare cost) directly after the doctors consultation - instead of having to pay the full amount and then getting the medicare rebate cost directly back from medicare.

AndyH

Re: Feeling Positive - Not!
 

Okay this is the facts only , any cover you get will involve you paying what is known as the gap its the differance between your cover and the total bill , one work mate who has full cover just got a bill for a couple of $1000s because his wife had a two week hospital stay.
The dental work also will have a limit and again you will pay , Medicare will treat you cheaper but it will limit your treatment and there are waiting lists as the NHS its up to you pay more and get the best or expect a second rate sysem.



:D :cool: :beer:

Hi Sandra

I can only advise you on my experience of Medicare. I don't have any medical insurance.

Last year I saw a specialist for a back problem and he advised I needed an operation to resolve my back pain. He gave me 3 choices.
1) Wait for a bed in public hospital as it wasn't life threatening but it was life restricting, could take years.

2) Go private and have the operation in private hospital with all the bells and whistles whenever I wanted. This would have cost about $10,000

3)Go semi private, means have the operation in a public hospital but pay a gap payment, in within a month. This cost me about $3,000, and also Medicare contributed another $3,000 which I had to claim on behalf of the surgeon and then pass on to the surgeon. This is the one I went for.

This was my first serious illness in 10 years and if I'd paid insurance it would have cost me I estimate about $1,000 per year, so I saved myself $7,000 .

I still don't have medical insurance and I don't intend to. I do however have house and car insurance.

You pay your money and you take your chances.

Re: Feeling Positive - Not!
 

I haven't got Med insurance:

I was actually hospitalised for 4 weeks here ( a period of two weeks then I had to go in again for another two weeks - op botch up) - P.s you can't always fly home in need - I couldn't because the nature of my injury - it would have been dangerous

I did not pay a penny for hospital treatment - it was under the agreement act between Uk and Aus. (I'm not sure if you have to pay a gap on medicare when you are hospitalised , but you certainly don't with the UK/AUS agreement act- as I didn't, and I had countless Xrays , and tests on top of the op's and skin graft, plus I used to have to go back to the hospital once a week for about three months - then once a month after that. This was when I was on a business visa, and I did not have medicare , although I'm told you can get it , I didn't know at the time and just used "I'm British" - agreement between Aus and UK)

local doctors bills, I paid out of my own pocket, but when I went down to get a Medicare card, I took my receipts with me and was reimbursed for much of it. Dressings and such, wound creams etc - I spent a fortune on, and medicare would not reimburse me for this although they were very essential (I had necrosis in my leg from a fishing accident - had to have two op's to cut out the flesh and tissue and a skin graft - won't go into it - long story)

I've had a medicare card for two years now since getting PR - and I've never used it _ I haven't been to the doctor in that period of time (I should! - I hate doctors though - I had enough of doctors to last me a life time with my leg to be honest with you) Dentists I pay for myself which is expensive , I paid about $700 for one root canal about 4 years ago, Hubby last year paid more than this for one of his it was closer to the thou mark. A - check up's with my dentist $90, these figures aren't exact.

cheers:)

P.S reading this thread with interest, because I looked around at a few insurance companies a few years ago and decided against it, for a lot of reasons - who knows may get some myself now. I suppose it's differnt with kids though. I'm one of those people who think "b*gger it" - I don't take much notice of my own health until something happens.