stuartsummers1980

Am I right in thinking that if you and your partners combined pre tax income is $143k then you don't need to worry about the Medicare Levy surcharge?

At this moment in time and having read various threads, I can't see the benefit to getting private health cover, but then the other day someone told me that the extra you'd pay on tax by not having private would mean you might as well get private cover anyway as it would all break even, but I presume they were referring to the medicare levy surcharge.

commonwealth

Refer to http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/co...54.htm&page=11

Wol

The extra you pay by not buying insurance is only one part of a complicated decision.

Another long-term consideration is that if you delay over the age of 30 (or one year if you've just arrived and are over 30) each year's premium is increased by 2% for each above-30 year.

Then there's the other side of it: private insurance isn't the same as in the UK or the States, where you can expect to recoup most of the cost of treatment. In Australia you will only get back a fraction of it most of the time.

Now that the rebate on premiums is to be abolished I am seriously considering abandoning insurance and just paying upfront when I need treatment.