Mandy Bale

Well after doing a bit of research I have come to the following conclusions:

If a household has a joint income of $100,000 then you get charged an extra 1% tax. This isn't 1% of anything over 100k this is 1% of all earnings. So if we earn 100k a year we would pay 1k extra tax a year. If you take out basic hospital cover with a health fund then this 1% levy is dropped. Now as far as I can figure out, the most basic hospital cover costs about $60 - $80 per month. This gives you the priviledge of choice of doctor in a public hospital as a private patient, now as I don't know any doctors here then this is more or less useless to me. If I went into a private hospital as a private patient then there is the risk that the basic cover I have doesn't cover me enough and I end up paying shit loads. So all I am doing really is paying $60 - $80 a month to get out of the 1% levy. Worth it if you earn over $100k a year I think. But not really worth it from the point of view of getting private health care.

Now according to my research, the government gives you a 30% rebate on your health cover premiums (the premiums quoted above included this), this can either be paid as a reduction in your premiums or you can take it off your tax bill at the end of the year. If you are over 31 years old then you have to pay 2% extra on your premiums. If you are 40years old then you have to pay 20% extra on your premiums. So as me and my husband are both 32 we would get just a 28% government rebate on our premiums (again this was taken into account with the above quotes).

now if you are really into the health insurance thing then there are policies out there that cover everything from GP gap payments, ambulance cover, hospital cover, dental, optical and will even pay for your gym membership, but these cost loads (was quoted $275 per month with one company) so not really worth it unless you are into that sort of thing and are intending to be sick a lot!

Does this make sense to you? Have I got it right? I think we will be taking out the basic cover as we have just got stung with the 1% levy!!

this is a useful link: www.phiac.gov.au/insurenotsure/pdf/insure.pdf

Mandy

tinaj

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mandy Bale


A really useful link, though it will take me some time to wade through it. Thanks for that.


We have had a look at a few quotes for family cover 2 parents and all children, you could try

www.Australianunity.com.au

They quote comprehensive cover with no excess for $1,774.97
or $147.90 p.m
going down to basic hospital cover for $1,024.55 or $85.37 p.m

We will probably go for the non-obstectrics policy - no more kids for us!- this gives us good cover for a reasonable price. $1,371.19 ($300 excess)

They seem to be the most reasonable that we have found and are based on adult ages of 32 and 37.


Tina

Mandy Bale

Just getting this back up to the top.

NinaU

Thanks for that link Mandy. I shall watch this thread carefully. We were planning to self insure, but I wasn't aware that medicare does not cover hospital stay (hospital acco, theater fees etc etc). So I'm in two minds - whether to take private insurance or not

Cheers
Nina

Jolyn

Mandy,

This might be of some help:

You have to distinguish between inpatient and outpatient treatment.

Medicare does cover hospital stay etc. All inpatient treatment in a public hospital as a public patient is free on Medicare. This includes all emergency treatment. For non emergencies treatment in hospital is still free - you just have to wait for treatment on the waiting list if you don't have private cover. This could be a long or short list depending on what it is. Generally lists are shorter than UK NHS.

For hospital inpatient treatment it can be useful to have private health cover to skip waiting lists. The private cover varies in price depending on whether you want the glossy treatment of staying in a private hospital (receive treatment as private patient in a private hospital) or whether you just want the public hospital treatment sooner (receive treatment as a private patient in a public hospital).

Either way with private cover you get your choice of doctor. Your GP will refer you to the usual consultant at your local hospital if you don't know anyone. The point is they will actually do the treatment themselves, not their registrar or whoever is on duty that day which is what happens if you're a public patient - same as on the NHS. Still a bit complicated as whoever treats you has to not charge more than your insurer agrees and so on - just like private cover in the UK.

I would suggest taking out basic hospital cover that covers you as a private patient in public hospitals to avoid the 1% surcharge on high earners who don't have private health cover.

If you're not a high earner you might want to check the waiting lists for the sorts of things you might need before deciding on whether to take out private cover. Although the insurance gets more expensive as you get older with the age loadings many Australians choose to wait until they get towards the age of needing hip replacements etc before taking out private cover. Until then they 'self insure' - using the savings on private insurance premiums to pay for any essential treatment where the waiting lists are too long.

To get best buy policies you could sign up with Choice: www.choice.com.au. It's the Australian equivalent of Which magazine and gives reviews of all sorts of things. They have a very clear explanation of all the health cover issues too on their website. Some of the Choice info is only available if you pay, other info is free if you register on the website.

Outpatient treatment (GPs visits, initial hospital appointments, physio etc) has a proportion refunded under Medicare. Dental is not covered by Medicare at all.

So the other private cover (aside from Hospital cover) you can get is called Extras. There is a scheduled fee for GPs visits, consultant's outpatient appointments and so on. Medicare refunds a proportion of this (can't remember whether it's 75% or 85%!). The private cover refunds you the remaining 25% or 15%. You usually still end up out of pocket a bit as most docs charge more than the scheduled fee anyway.

The Extras cover is worth having if you expect to have lots of dental treatment. But it doesn't exempt you from the 1% surcharge - you have to take out a Hospital cover policy for that.

There may seem like a lot of out of pocket costs but Medicare takes a lot less of your taxes than the NHS does so you always end up paying one way or another in the UK or Oz!

Whatever you do - get Ambulance insurance. Very cheap through each state's provider and essential as it's not covered by Medicare at all.

Good luck making sense of it. Not many Aussies get it either. It seems a mess but the medical care in Oz muddles along well enough and I've never had any trouble getting treated much more quickly than in the UK! Sometimes it seems like the 'one size fits all' of the NHS with no choice/personal involvement is simpler but ends up with everybody waiting for years for any treatment as the bureaucracy grinds to a halt...

Best wishes,

Jo

dotty

Mandy that 1% penalty was brought in by the gov, to basically push people into the private system to help save the buckling medicare system. Of course you still pay the medicare levy despite having private, just not the extra 1%.

Since then (about 2 years) our health insurance has gone up 3 times and the payouts reduced. Even if your policy says no excess this is crap (sorry) most hospitals have gaps and co payments and still work a fee and no doctor charges the recommended fee anyway.

Take out the private but check the Gap agreement before you go in, it means you pick a certain doctor/hospital who have an agree ment with that fund and may end up almost fully covered.

I have Private and it costs $168 a month, we still have co payments but frankly I think its worth it. Public system here does have long waiting lists and the wards leave a lot to be desired. Having been in public and private hospitals I simply would not trust my health to Public. For instance, cancer patients on the Sunshine Coast have to travel to Bris for treatment. Simply intolerable if you ask me. Private tho and cancer treatment (radio/chemo) avail here.

Plus on my extras policy filling last week was $178.00 but I got all but $38.00 back. Beware tho with limits only so much care avail each year.

Mandy Bale

Thanks for your replies. I have been reading through the Choice website for the last couple of evenings and think I have now got my head around it all! There are a couple of policies that look good but I just need to look at some more before deciding which one. My favourites at the moment are actually the ones that the choice website rated best. Really we are getting the private cover due to the tax levy, but reading through the policies and all their fine print it actually looks like it would be worth it for the treatment, i.e. the shorter waiting lists, and knowing we can get things done if needed, as soon as poss and with no worries (we hope!). Also you get Ambulance cover with both the policies I have looked at, and they both cover the 'Gap' payments.

there seems a lot more choice and options than you would have in the UK, and both the policies I have looked at have agreements in plenty of hospitals around here.

Mandy

Mandy Bale

Hi Nina,

Medicare does cover hospital stays, theatre fees ect. This confused me at first when looking into it as all the private policies were saying 'we cover all hospital fees/theatre fees etc.' and at first you think maybe medicare doesn't cover all this, but it actually does, the private policies just use this sort of wording to look good! Medicare is much the same as the NHS, the only difference is that you sometimes have to pay the 'Gap' fee, with a visit to the GP this is usually around $10 - $20, not sure what it is at the hospitals though, but I'm guessing not too much.

mandy

lynnj

Hi There

do any of you ladies who seem to be very knowlegable on health care know how you are covered by medicare for antenatal care and labour/birth. As i will be about 5 months pregnant when we arrive in aus private cover is out, so can any of you point me in the right direction for finding out what i will be expected to pay out ie what medicare doesnt cover when i have my own little aussie?

Lynn

Jolyn

Lynn,

Medicare will cover all the inpatient treatment without additional cost - labour etc.

I think the antenatal visits count as outpatient so you have to pay a bit for each one and get the rest back from Medicare. I suggest you ring a local hospital or GP in Oz and ask them. Or ring the Medicare helpline. They've all been very informative over the phone to us.

I read somewhere that blood tests your newborn has done in hospital count as outpatient (bizarrely) as the baby is not technically admitted to hospital so there's some charge for those.

If you're going Medicare all the way none of the gap charges are that expensive.

Congratulations on the baby on the way. Where in Oz are you heading?

Jo

lynnj

Hi Jo

Thanks for the info that has put my mind at rest, i'll be about 24 weeks when we get there so i'll be past all the scans and tests by then, it will hopefully just be a waiting game after we get there. We're Perth bound in October all being well. Moving to the other side of the world and being pregnant are stressful enough on their own, put together i think my blood pressure is in for a pounding!

Good luck with your move
Lynn

Mandy Bale

looks like I've started a good informative thread here. It would be nice for some more people who have lived in Australia for a while could contribute too.
I think when you are about to immigrate here the medical system is one of those things that just doesn't seem to come up as one of the things to research. There were so many unanswered questions regarding the medical system. We certainly have taken the NHS for granted for all our lives, although Medicare is mostly the same, there are some differences people should get to know about and be ready for. i.e. you don't register with gp's, you can go to any gp you like, therefore, things like smear tests, tetanus injections, kids injections, you have to think about these yourself and book appointments, although I think if you stay with the same doctor for a while they send out reminders. Unlike the NHS who automatically send out appointments for things like that, whether you are a regular or not. Also, when your child is due for injections (not sure if its the same with babies) you have to get a prescripsion from the doctors for the injection, go to the chemist to buy it then make another appointment with the doctor to inject it. I'm not entirely sure how much the necessary injections are for young children (hepetitis, polio etc) but when I enquired about the meningitis vaccine (which thankfully mine had both had it before we left the UK) it was going to cost $67 per injection. Are there any mums on here that have gone through the vaccination side of things that can clarify this. Mine won't be due for injections now until they are teenagers but I may have to get their tetanus jabs updated as we are spending a lot of time around horses.

As for dentists, yes you have to pay for childrens check ups but for adults, my experience is that it is actually cheaper than NHS treatment. I had some work done on my teeth as the same thing I had done in the UK didn't work so had to have it done again here and in the UK this cost me £250 (NHS treatment) here it cost me $300 so not far off. In my experience I have found the dentist treatment far superior to the UK. My daughter had a filling in the UK which fell out after a year, she had it replaced here and hasn't had any trouble with it since, and its a white filling so we don't even know its there. A friend of mine also has had lots of work done on her teeth and the dentist she used here was appalled at the work she had had done in the UK. My dentist too was appalled at the way my teeth have been treated in the past. still there are many good dentists in the UK, normally private ones that charge lots, but this is just my experiences of dentists here, so far I have no complaints.

So can anyone else give some input into the ins and outs of the health service here, only informative ones though, so far all input has been great, don't spoil it!

Mandy

Kiwipaul

I'm a pretty health person and for the 7 years I was in NZ, I didn't have to visit a doctor once, didn't even register. Came to Australia and after 12 months developed a back problem, saw local doctor and he said need to see specialist, gave me 2 names both of which couldn't see me for at least 6 months.
Got out yellow pages and started phoneing around, found one that could see me within a month. During the consultation he said he knew exactly what problem was and gave me 3 choices.
1) Go public indefinate wait.
2)Go semi private. He'd do the operation within the month at a public hospital.
3)Go private. He'd do the operation within a couple of days at private hospital.

He gave me costing for semi private $3-4,000 and private $10,000. As I had no insurance I opted for Semi private and paid myself. Operation complete success and I'm as good as new.

These figures aren't the full cost as I also claimed from Medicare their allowance which I forwarded to the consultant. The figure I quoted are effectively the GAP payment that the medical insurance would pick up if I'd have had insurance.
Still don't have medical insurance and no intension of getting it.

Kiwipaul

My experince with dentists down here has not been all positive. My UK dentist was excellent but always had too book couple of months in advance for checkup and clean as he was so busy, but had virtually no toothache at all.
When I arrived in NZ visited local dentist for checkup and clean (appointment whenever I liked). During checkup she reported my teeth were in terrible state and booked me in following day for 2 filling, after the filling I started to get toothache, went back and she redid one. $1,000 later still had toothache and so went to different dentist, another filling and more $$$ still got toothache. Tried yet another dentist and another filling and pain free once again.
This whole sage spread over 6 months and $2,000 later and the whole point is when I went for my first checkup I had no problems.

Used the successfuly dentist from then on and had no more toothache problems, but he does seem to find problems virtually every visit which costs $$$.

Their seems to be too many dentists in NZ chaseing too few customers and so they tend to want to repair the slighted problem. Never had problems with appointments for checkup as they can book you in the following day.

My dentist is Brisbane is a recommendation from my dentist in Auckalnd but I've only been twice as I'm wary now.

NinaU

Hi Kiwipaul,
Does that mean I can go private and medicare would pay for some part of the treatment, if so what percentage?. How much could you claim?
Thanks!

Regards
Nina