Health insurance

[littlelegz]

Hi all me and my wife and child are hoping to be in Wagga, NSW in August 08 but we need health insurance for me and the clan, any suggestions would be great.

Thanks all.

[Quoll]

You can shop around easily on http:Private Health Insurance Australia - iSelect just plug in your requirements and it will narrow down the possible options for you. Everyone has their own favourites and it all rather depends on what you want out of a policy. If you have kids you may want to be sure that you can get good orthodontic coverage just in case!!!

[littlelegz]

Hi there thanks for reply, can you answer one question for me . Being from britain and on a 457 visa are we not coverd by some medical cover and that we have to pay for a top up so to speak.

[Quoll]

Originally Posted by littlelegz

Hi there thanks for reply, can you answer one question for me . Being from britain and on a 457 visa are we not coverd by some medical cover and that we have to pay for a top up so to speak.

There is a reciprocal agreement for necessary medical coverage for people from UK so if you are really sick you will get seen thanks to medicare but if you want something that is not essential (think having kids tonsils out or needing to have your gall bladder out for example) then they wont fund you which is why you need private medical coverage. I am not sure if you are entitled to medications on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme or whether you have to pay the full price - someone is bound to know.

[BullcreekBob]

The PBS safety net does not apply to temporary visa holders and they have only restricted entitlements under both Medicare and PBS schemes.

Many 457 visa holders are required by their employer to take out additional health insurance (as part of the employer's duty of care towards the visa holder and their family). This is in some ways unfortunate because the health insurance for temp visa holders is three or four times more expensive than "normal" health insurance.

Whilst some medical treatment would be covered under the reciprocal health agreements, the health insurance companies do not give cheaper rates because of it. Consequently UK residents (who do have some reciprocal rights) are charged the same for insurance as someone from Bhotswana (who have no reciprocal rights).

[Quoll]

This seems to be a summary

Medicare Coverage

Sponsored Employees, directly recruited from a country with which Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA), may be eligible for limited Medicare benefits, though only for “immediately necessary treatment”. For taxation purposes, these visa holders are treated in the same manner as Australian citizens and are subject to the same tax payments (Medicare Levy) and penalties (MLS) as Australian citizens. RHCA Agreements are currently in place with the following countries:
United Kingdom
New Zealand
Sweden
Finland
Netherlands
Malta
Italy
Norway
Ireland (Hospital only)

Treatment under the RHCA is limited, as indicated above, to immediately necessary treatment which occurred after arrival in Australia (ie. pre-existing conditions are not covered), and includes the following:
subsidised out-of-hospital medical treatment (visiting a doctor) under Medicare
subsidised medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which arose after arrival in Australia, and
treatment in a public hospital.

Examples of the sort of costs which the RHCA’s do NOT cover include:
Treatment as a private patient (patients opting to be treated as private patients will forego Medicare benefits)
Ambulance coverDental care
Spectacles and hearing aids
Surgical supplies
Prostheses (excluding artificial limbs and surgically implanted prostheses);
Medical evacuation to home country
Funerals
Elective treatment
Treatment that has been pre-arranged before arrival in Australia

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