Family of 3

Need to get insurance sorted soon for tax and age loading reasons.

Is there a sticky on this? Can't seem to find it.

The more I look into this the more confused I get about what we need.

Since for stuff like heart attacks the public system's (I imagine) pretty good is there any point paying extra for that or just stick to basic hospital?

Extras: I wear glasses, but can't imagine insurance being cost-effective. Dental: do people find it worth it?

chris and farideh

for extra yes for hospital no IMO, went to the dentist recently the it came to $220 I only paid $62 gap. we only got the hospital cover for tax too, so we have gone for basic hospital cover & top cover for extra.

carzinoz

I read that the age loading for migrants applies from the date they came to Oz rather than the usual age. I don't know how it works in practice though because I haven't taken any out, it's confusing isn't it, knowing what to buy and trying to figure out is it worth it.

canadaeh

I agree with some of the others, for extras yes and for hospitals no. I am with Medibank Private, I go twice a year for checkup and clean etc and it's free for me. Got 3 fillings last month and the gap I paid was only $30, so very happy.

lesleys

Not sure where you live, but if outside Queensland make sure you have ambulance cover. You can get some very large bills.

Dorothy

We have intermediate hospital and intermediate extras with Medibank. For majoor things like heart attack I would be asking to be transferred to RPH (depending on who's oncall ) or Charlies. For things like orthopaedics or ENT, etc you should probably have private because you're going to be waiting a very very long time without. With ours we get $200 back per year each for glasses/contacts and if you find a Medibank dentist you don't pay any gap for general dental. I think the major plans include ambulance cover, but it's defo worth getting. An ambulance from your place to RPH would set you back a pretty penny!

Family of 3

Thanks everyone.

We already have ambulance cover (did that very early on). We need to have hospital of some sort to avoid the extra medisave levy.

I got a couple of quotes yesterday and am now ploughing through the policies. It struck me that gap cover isn't really worth it but the salesperson (of course) really pushed it.

Gems

Hi,

The wait maybe not as bad as you think for ENT. Last night I took my 19year old to see ENT specialist. Said he needs his tonsils out (something we were begging the UK doctors to do for years).
Anyway he said for the local public hospital it will be only about 4months. Thats hardly waiting a very very long time. Also said if we were willing to go to Perth city we could have done it sooner. This is public so free.

However Ive dealt with Orthopaedics, and wait for appointments is much longer.

Personally Ive found the public system better than back in the UK.

Gems

goldchoccycoin

Please make sure you read the information on www.privatehealth.gov.au regarding gap payments etc. They also have a useful search function for policies which includes ALL available Australian policies (which iSelect and that ilk do not).

I have top hospital and comprehensive extras - costs $114 per month for a single (double that for a couple/family) and have been very happy with the inclusions and rebates (www.cdhbf.com.au)

I would in most instances use public for hospital (especially emergency) but if I were to need a knee reconstruction etc I would use my private cover.

Good luck.