wavy_davy

Sorry I know this has been done to death but we are in a dilemma! We are both 34 with a 2 year old daughter. We have just been looking at health insurance and wondering whether it is worth taking out. We have had a quote (through iselect) for hospital and extras which works out between $170-260 per month which is unaffordable for us. We had another quote for extras only for $56 per month which is much better and includes things like optical, dental, accident and ambulance etc. It might even be a bit lower because we won't have to pay the additional amount for each year we are over 30.

Now the question I have is around the additional amount paid to the government if we don't take insurance out. How much is this and if we were to take out the extras package would we be exempt from this additional payment or is it only if we take out hospital cover?

Does all that make sense? Your advice is welcomed! Cheers!

thebears

We have gone with Medibank I think there called. Once you gain PR the cost does drop. Without PR you go down as a "visitor" category. My self and daughter go down in the first category but because my wife has yet to gain PR she has to have a seperate policy so we are paying double.

Guess the main consideration is if you need an op PI gets you in faster - and to a hospital of your choice.