Jowindsor

Hi Everyone,
Shopping around for Health insurance for our family(2 Adults and 2 Children) and not sure which one to go for?Getting a quote of 300/month from GMF with 500 excess per person or 1000 per family for a year with all hospital cover and extras included!! or 350/Month from HCF for the same.

Has anyone taken insurance with these firms?Are they good?Any help will be much appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Jo

Swerv-o

They are all much of a muchness IMHO. I have found GMHBA to be the cheapest so far, but it's still very limited cover for the cost. You can tailor your premium by cutting out stuff you don't need - I, for example, don't need any baby related stuff, so I had all of that cut out of the policy.

Examine your cover carefully, as often it ends up costing more to use your insurance than going on the public system. I have been in and out of hospital regularly since I arrived and I have let the state carry the cost of it, and have been very happy with the service. I have never used my health insurance.


S

Wol

We are with HCF and find them OK (as much as any of them - Oz insurers are not like UK ones in the reimbursement they give). We changed from MBF because they were hopelessly inefficient. Several health providers agreed with that, said MBF were a shambles to deal with.

benhila

If you are on a 457 visa and from a country which has a reciprocal healthcare agreement with Australia (such as the UK) read carefully all the small print because many of the (quite expensive) health covers on offer do not give you more than what's already covered by medicare.

Swerv-o

And of course NIB have that infuriatingly annoying man on their adverts. So naturally they are out


S

Gillin5002

I have been with Bupa since I moved over 18 months ago for family cover (2 adults, 1 child) and been happy with the service. Did have a quick look around a while back to see if I could find anything cheaper, but for the cover I have Bupa was the best.

paddyo

I have had BUPA and now GUH...I felt BUPA was better and more professional but GUH is easier...if that makes sense. BUPA only uses accredited Doctors/Dentists etc etc whereas GUH allow you to use any HICAPS provider, which is pretty much all of them! Our GUH is $300 pm for 2 adults and 1 child but that is with my employers program so may be more expensive privately.

paddyo

oh Jo...look at the cover and see if the allowances can be spread between you all..for example you may have $6000 combined or $2000 for each adult and $1000 for each child with no option to use other family members allowance. Ours is cover for all 3 of us which can be used as we like as long as we keep below our combined allowance limit. Flexibility is the key here as well as the cost.

carolinephillips

Was with Medibank and they were awful - have changed to healthcare.com and they have been incredibly easy to deal with online or by phone. We have the top level of insurance for the 3 of us, and they give 65% of claims back up to a certain limit. No idea how much it all costs though as OH sorts all that out.

astera

Is that with no deductibles/excess or do most private plans still make you pay up to a certain amount before they cover the rest?

quoll

We were reasonably happy with HCF for many years. We will return to them if and when we return to Aus but not sure for how long we can afford it as retirees

jad n rich

Was with medibank private, switched to bupa, slightly different inclusions were better for us and was about $50 a month cheaper.

On extras they have paid well.

On hospital. DO your homework. For the same procedure a $1570 gap with one Doctor, another equally well known Doctor would be no gap. The only way to really know is to get Quotes. For each specialist appointment to get the Quote pay around $185 - $200+ and medicare may pay $30 or $70 approx of that.

Was in public hospital recently ( emergency admission, no choice ) had to lie in the hospital bed with broken leg for 5 days before they could operate on me. It was a hellish experience. In that time they approached me 4 times, once still groggy from surgery to see if I would give my Private Health details to relieve the pressure on govt funding. It would not speed me up the waiting list, nor get a private room, it was purely to help the overstretched medicare system.

kips

I used to work for ahm (Australian Health Management) processing claims at their head office in Wollongong, NSW, and they have very good hospital cover. Extras cover is not bad either.