dazzac

Hi

Has anyone got any info on what typical costs are should you require mediacal treatment once settled - QLD, AUS.
I haven't read much about Medicare but assume we will be encouraged to join as soon as we arrive.
How does it work exactly?

Mainly concerned as we are still planning to have another child at some point and wondered what costs this would involve compared to here , i.e. nowt.


Anybody?

Thanks
Darren

steandleigh

Hi Darren,

don't be fooled mate, it doesn't cost you " nowt " here, the BA****DS rip it out of your pay packet every month without your permission, it's called taxation!!!!

Anyhow, once you register with medicare, when you arrive in Oz, I believe there's a medicare levi which is automatically taken out of your wage packet. It's about 1%, I believe.

I'm not sure what kind of care you get for that ( just the basics, I think ), but am guessing that private is the way to go.

I have a booklet, from last year when we were in Oz, on Medibank and that lists all the treatments you can recieve, the different levels of policy, how much you pay etc. Don't have a web address for them, but if you go to google, it should give you an idea.

I reckon there are hundreds of private healthcare companies out there,

Good luck,

dotty

It would take pages unfortunately to go right though this. However Medicare is the government health care system and you do have a sum added to your tax to pay for it. 1.5% i thought plus High Income earners (about $100,000 for a family receive a further penalty if they dont take out Private cover) plus even if you do you still pay medicare levy anyway.

Medicare will offer you rebates when you see Doctors/specialists, this is not a 100% rebate. Some Doctors Bulk bill which means you dont pay tho but they become fewer by the day.

Prescriptions can be anywhere from $12.00 upwards (asthma for a kid cost us $140.00). Pensioners and dole bludgers get them for about $3.00.

Hospital care is free, however the free system would usually involve similar waiting time to the UK system.

Dentists unless you are on welfare are always paid for and cost an arm and a leg. Kids tho get treatment at school from 5-16.

Private insurance, we pay $2016.00 a year (after the government rebate), I cannot even begin to explain the Gap, co-payment, specialist surcharge, room surcharge, type rules. Each fund is very different but almost all will still involve you still paying some amount. EG, prescriptions, we are covered but not untill we have paid the first $28.00. Dentistry, they pay 60%/80% but up to a limit per person per year.

Theres also an interesting rule that if you dont have private health cover by age 40 or is that now age 30 if you join later you will be hit with a surcharge for each year you did not have it.

Of course many people have the basic medicare only, but I have experienced private and state hospitals here and there is no comparisom at all, my health is not an area I wish to economise on. Plus in country areas and my friends with Cancer can vouch for this treatment may involve a daily 3 hour chug to a hospital for free treatment.

You must get Medicare cards when you arrive, but I would also check out Private.

MrsDagboy

Pretty much agree with most of dottys comments except in relation to having a baby & the public health system. I found the public system to be extremely efficient & very very good when I had my twins even though it was a high risk pregnancy with quite a few complications.

BTW, for those who may be confused, Im talking about having a baby & all the care etc though the public hospital, I attended Logan from about the 11th week of pregnancy. No waiting time for antenatal care. Attending a public hospital (for any kind of treatment actually) is free.

Apart from having a baby, if you are a public patient & need what they deem to be "elective" surgery (ie. basically, you're not dying!), then yes, the waiting lists can be quite long. It definitely depends on whats wrong with you though, even some elective surgery waiting lists are considerably shorter than others.

I would definitely consider some sort of private cover, sorry, cant help on prices etc as Dagboys gets paid for by his employer, but check out


Iselect

Great site for chosing a health fund thats right for you.

bondipom

Just a point. Ambulances are not free. I do not know what the delivery charge is. QLD has plans to add a surcharge to electricity to pay for ambulance cover. Not sure what the relationship between the 2 is.

dazzac

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MrsDagboy
Pretty much agree with most of dottys comments except in relation to having a baby & the public health system. I found the public system to be extremely efficient & very very good when I had my twins even though it was a high risk pregnancy with quite a few complications.

BTW, for those who may be confused, Im talking about having a baby & all the care etc though the public hospital, I attended Logan from about the 11th week of pregnancy. No waiting time for antenatal care. Attending a public hospital (for any kind of treatment actually) is free.



Cool.
Cheers all

MrsDagboy

BP, correct about the ambulances in other states. Qld now has a system whereby everyone is covered as its added onto the electricity bill as you mentioned. Just a compulsory payment of subscription really. No charge for ambulance.

If you ARENT in Qld, seriously consider ambulance subscription, the fees are massive if you arent a subscriber.

ABCDiamond

I found that the standard of care etc., in an emergency situation, is very good under the Public system.

Regarding prescriptions, once you have spent $726.80 during 1 year for the family, ie: all those named on your medicare card, each presciption after that is only $ 3.80 for the rest of that year.
However, we have never hit the limit yet.

A form that I have here on PBS, states that we should pay no more than $23.70 for each prescription. However, I once paid over $40, being told that it had to be a private prescription as the PBS didnt cover it !! Maybe the doctor didn't know ?

I have also found an increase recently in the number of Doctors providing BULK BILL facilities to Children. (Thats in QLD, where bulk billing is not as common, as in NSW)
Just wish they would adopt the UK system for Kids, and make prescriptions free too.

MrsDagboy

ABC, the $40 for the script was correct, the max cost is $23.70 for any PBS prescriptions. There are some drugs that docs can prescribe that arent on the PBS which is what your $40 one was. The mistake he made was giving you a non PBS script, that will teach you for going in asking for Viagra or something .

Also in relation to the safety net of $726, that ONLY applies to PBS scripts, not private scripts. We would hit that limit in about 4 months if all scripts were included, unfortunately they arent.

Theres also a safety net on the gap payments, if your gap payments are more than about $280 (forgotten the exact amount but its about that) then from then on all medical costs are bulkbilled for the rest of the year. So if you have very high medical bills (as we now do), you can register with medicare who will keep a track of it for you & swap you over to bulkbilling when you have clocked up the required amount. Note - the amount of $280 ONLY applies to GAP payments ie the difference between the scheduled fee & the medicare rebate (the 15%) NOT the difference between Medicare rebate & what you pay.

Also dont forget that you can claim a tax rebate for medical expenses over $1500 for the year through the tax system as well if you keep receipts etc.

Mrs Dagboy - the medicare rebate specialist.

ABCDiamond

A few Questions:
Do you need to register with medicare to get the Safety Net Benefits ? The local chemist told me that they keep track themselves, but Yesterday they told my wife that we need a card, So I am now confused and planned to go in and ask them today. However, as you are around

Does the Saftey Net Year run from January or July ?

Also: There are 2 threshold limits for PBS safety net: Those with Concession cards at $197.60, and then free thereafter, and those without at $726.80, and then $3.80 each thereafter.

I don't know what that $40 scrip of mine was now, but I am hunting around for the receipt, so I can use it for tax time. And it wasn't Viagra

Your comment "Note - the amount of $280 ONLY applies to GAP payments ie the difference between the scheduled fee & the medicare rebate (the 15%) NOT the difference between Medicare rebate & what you pay." answers something I have been puzzled about for some time. We pay $10.40 for a scrip but it has $7.53 printed on the item. Now I know (or assume) that the $7.53 is the value that Medicare take into account, and not the $10.40 that we actually paid.
I also just calculated that s concesssion card holder would need to spend about $280 to reach the threshold of $197.60 using those figures. Or over $1,000 without concession to reach $726.80

MrsDagboy

You register for the GAP safety net with medicare. I did it for us yesterday. It runs from Jan to Dec. Go in & they will give you a simple form to fill out.

The safety net with the PBS prescriptions is a bit different. If you go to the same chemist all of the time, ask for them to print out your costs for the year to date. They should keep on file a list of all your prescriptions filled at that chemist. Then if you are close to the cut off figure you will know. If you go to just a couple of chemists go to the one you go to most first, then you can see if its worth going to the others to get the print out. However if you go to every chemist in Brisbane for your scripts, then tough . If you want to start now (I believe it runs from Jan-Dec as well, although that one Im not certain of), ask at the chemist for a card & each time you go to a chemist (any chemist in this case), give them the card & they will put a sticker on it & you can keep count.

You are probably correct on the last comment & amounts as well, assuming that your chemist charges you more than the normal fee for the script. Not all do, perhaps you should call another chemist for a price?

Also correct on the 2 different levels of threshold, sorry, I often forget that not everyone earns enough.

dotty

Good info being given but how complicated is the medical system here?? The whole system must cost a bomb just to run all the paperwork!

Anyway while out this morning I see health funds are to raise their prices again. Our Plan has gone from $122 just 2 years ago to $168 a month now, plus the rebates have been reduced in that time. Another rise and we will be getting close to $200 a month and thats not top of the line cover either. Including considering what we pay in tax for the medicare levy and all the gaps etc it must cost us thousands of dollars a year.

bondipom

The NHS internal market is a big mess as well.

I pointed out in another thread that healthcare costs are rocketing ahead of inflation. This is the same whether private, public, the UK or US. This is due to new more costly treatments and salary pressures due to doctor and nurse shortages.

We will pay it in tax or insurance whether we like it or not. The only other choice is to miss out on treatment.

dotty

Was it RichS who said the other day, education and health in both OZ and UK are a mess. Its true. Funny thing is when we go to Canada people say the same there too. Sweden perhaps anyone?

ABCDiamond

Is Private Medical insurance worth it ?

If it costs $2,000 per year, and you don't claim anything for 5 years, then surely you are better off by $10,000 ?

Can anyone explain why I should go with Private care ?