Private medical insurance

[daz+Gill]

Hi guys, does anyone have any idea on the cost of medical insurance for a family of four in oz. My wife would also like to know, can we use the "NHS" from we first arrive or is there a time period to qualify over there. Do we need private medical insurance when we first arrive there?
regards Daz+Gill

[GetDown]

Hi
My cousin livesin Perth and i asked him this question:
medical fees ( does medicare cover basics?) Yeap, medicare covers around half of the cost to visit a doctor. The average cost to visit a doctor is $35 - $40 a vist, so you would pay around $20 per visit
dental? A visit to the dentist would set you back around $150 (no medicare rebate) for a check up and clean, however if you have private health insurance then the out of pocket expense would be around $50 to $80 for the visit.
NB: Private health insurance is very popular in Australia. This helps cover the costs for dentists, physio, chiro, glasses etc - all the major medical stuff/teatment that you would normally expect from a normal family of 4.
The cost for private medical insurance will set you back around $120 per month

As far as im aware you can use medicare as soon as you get there aslong as your on a PR visa but dont quote me on that.

Hope this gives you some idea

Marcus

[daz+Gill]

Cheers marcus, that has helped. Just hope that my teeth dont fall out !!!!!
Daz+Gill

[samozsoon]

What visa are you on? If you have PR then you will be covered by medicare as soon as you arrive. You do have to wait about 10 days before you can apply though but if you need a doc before that then you just go to one and pay and claim it back once you've registered.

We havent sorted private insurance yet but will have to after July otherwise we'll have to pay a medicare levy surcharge as hubby earns more than the limit (dont know of hand what it is) but as he's only been working half the year this year he wont have gone over the threshold.

Sam x

[daz+Gill]

Sending off for 175 visa quite soon, regards Daz+Gill

[GetDown]

Get the wife to smash all your teeth out......get false ones, and save ya self say $160 a year!! least it will pay for one months med ins!!!!!

Good luck with the journey mines just begining TRA about to be sent fingers crossed.............good job i never told any of my old bosses to stick their jobs!!!

Have fun
Marcus

[Quoll]

Because of the reciprocal agreement you will be covered for necessary medical treatment regardless of your visa status as long as you are from UK. My medical insurance is $240 a month - top cover with excess and extras like dental and optical. That's pretty standard but you can check out what coverage you can get at Private Health Insurance Australia - iSelect

If you have kids then you would probably want to get good dental coverage just in case they need braces (take out second mortgage).

A lot of people are finding that private premiums are pricing themselves out of the market and they choose to go public - there is a bit of a catch because the premiums increase according to the age that you join the scheme. So generally they will increase for every year over 30 that you are when you join but as migrants you have 12 months to lock in at the lowest premium level.

[daz+Gill]

Cheers for that, at least we have a cost, i am saving up for braces for kids as we speak
daz