Gina123

Hi all due to fly out to Melbourne on 2nd Dec and have a couple of insurance questions...

Thanks in advance for your replies


1. Employer is not paying for private health insurance... do you have any advice on what I should do to set this up, ie recommended companies etc. Plus when should I set this up, on arrival or now before we leave uk? OH starts his new job on 12th Jan.

2. Did you set up travel insurance to cover you for flight over to OZ?

3. We need to get a tax file number, how do we go about doing this when we arrive in Melbourne?

Gina

shellynelly

hello
i already had insurance which is a benefit i got with my bank account with barclays bank,
your tax file number just google taxfile number and click apply, answer all the questions, passport number etc and they send it through the post within a couple of weeks, it is really simple nothing to worry about
good luck and have a safe journey
michelle

sr71

I'm not sure that many Australians bother with private medical insurance, there are some basic one that cover you for Ambulances etc but I don't think there is any point in getting full cover. (It's pretty expensive too)

NickyC

Currently 44% of Australians overall have private health insurance. Over 50% have it in WA. That's quite a lot of people who do bother with it.

sr71

Full private or basic cover for GP's and ambulances?

NickyC

Hospital cover:
http://www.phiac.gov.au/statistics/m...age/table1.htm

Kooky.

Gina, what type of visa do you have? If it's a 457 you are obliged to take out private health cover. We went with Medibank Visitors Cover - husband on basic cover, me on top level as I'm sickly but even that doesn't cover as much as I anticipated.

There are a few threads on this with various recommendations, so why not do a search?

All the best for your new life in Oz.

sr71

Well I'm genuinely surprised. I asked around quite a few people when I was asking about it and they all said not to bother, unless it was just the basic cover.

For me, my wife and 3yo son it was going to cost around $300 per month, so it's also not a trivial amount.

NickyC

A lot of the people currently with Hospital cover only have it to avoid paying the extra Medicare levy surcharge.

We have the most basic Hospital cover as it works out to be considerably less than paying out that extra 1% on our total income. Don't think we've ever used it - but it might come in handy one day .

slippery30

you can apply for tax file number online but only after you physically land in australia. the form can be done online. it basically checks ur info from DIAC e.g date landed in ozz....u will get the tax file number in post in approx 2-3 weeks..

herrchook

Not long now Gina, good luck with the move

HUP

We have never bothered with private health. If we had we would have been massively out of pocket after a six week stint in hospital for me and having a premature baby.

HOWEVER
I strongly advise you get ambulance cover. This covers you for any ambulance journeys. In Victoria we pay $120 a year for our family.

If you do not have this and you require an ambulance you will receive a bill. It can be upto $5000.

Petals

We do not have health insurance have not had it for over twenty years now and glad about not paying for it. We just have ambulance cover. We put money aside in a special bank account and if we need tests
we pay for them to be done straight away and if we do not need them we get to keep the money.

My mum had cataracts done no insurance and she paid and the amount she paid was less than her friend paid who had insurance the gap was more than what the surgeon charged mum and the hospital.

My daughter has type 1 diabetes and brain cancer and we never have a problem they do everything for her, she never has to phone for an appointment its all done for her she just has to turn up.

The sooner they get rid of the 30% rebate and put the money into public health the better, poor people paying for others health insurance and the only winners are the private hospitals and the docs. Private hospitals send you to public when you have a problem.

My dad full private had an emergency op in private hospital, they came and said we cannot look after him he will have to go into the public hospital, he did and bills for months after for the gap for all the blood tests you have and the doctors you see the gap can add up to thousands and if you don't have it you pay nothing except the medicare levy.

wongstonn

Hi Gina

Only a week to go! Crickey, I remember how I felt when I only had one week to go with all those last goodbyes and everything.

Anyhow, regarding your questions, not sure what you do or do not know by way of background.

Assuming you are on a permanent visa, you are not obliged to get private medical insurance, however if your income in Australia will be high - I can't remember the number, but it is now far over $100k p.a. - you may need to pay an even higher rate of tax, called the medicare surcharge - unless you get private medical insurance (PMI). The PMI premiums often include a certain number of dental check-ups and therapies. There are many companies that offer this. Probably the most used is Medibank Private. You will have seen from previous posts that the subject arouses a lot of passion. It's your choice.

For travel insurance it would be worthwhile reading the small print on any possible policy. They are usually geared to people who are intending to return to the UK (i.e domiciled, which because you are emigrating you are not). While living in the UK I worked in the insurance industry and having searched for a policy that covered one way travel for my family and do not recall finding one. I did get my goods being shipped in the container covered with shipping insurance. If Barclaycard or someone else now covers this, then great!

Finally the TFN. First to get this you must be in Australia. Go to www.ato.gov.au and find the area for getting a new TFN. You'll need your passport, and an address for them to send the TFN to. The ATO's computers are linked to those used at the airports so they know when you are here!

Neil