Guest tandcmum Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 we are here in Oz on a PR visa and have registered with medicare, however a few people have told me that we will need to buy private health insurance still At the moment I am the only one working. I probably will earn over the single persons threshold of $80000, but i thought that as a family it was a total household income of $160000 which would mean we would have to pay the surcharge and need private health insurance, is this correct? Obviously when hubby gets a job and we have 2 incomes we will probably need to get health insurance and that is fine. Also can we get insurance for dental work, or some sort of dental plan without having to get hospital cover at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracey72 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Hiya, just got our 457 visa so will be leaving the uk soon for Perth. I know my hubby HAD to get private medical insurance $250 per month in place and 1 installment paid to be granted the visa. My friend that lives in Perth already has said its so expensive to see a doctor!!! The medical insurance is for hospital, dental and optical. Its all very new to us but I just know what we have to do, then apply for medicare. Dont know if this will help, oh and med.ins is with Bupa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 You do not need to take out insurance. If you are happy to have treatment in a public hospital then medicare will cover all the costs. We did not have health insurance for many many years and never needed it. My daughter has health problems and the public system looks after her very well without health insurance. The surcharge is only to encourage people on high incomes to take out the insurance. Private health has to be taken out by the age of 31 and after that there is a surcharge for every year added on to the premiums for age. We are retired now and have taken out insurance even though we pay a hefty surcharge this is because we are now in the time of our lives when we need more medical care and operations etc. Private health does not cover all costs, when you have private health the docs load their fees and you get to pay hefty gap fees. I have just had my knee replaced we are on top cover and our out of pocket expenses were over three thousand dollars and when you add on our health insurance premiums its getting up to six thousand dollars. If you want an obstetrician of your choice to deliver a baby then you need to be in the health fund for over 12 months before you can have the cover. Any pre existing condition you need to be in the health fund for over 12 months. The public system in Aus is very good and if we are in a car accident, fall down in the street, etc public is where we are taken. Its very confusing but you need to consider what your family needs and shop around for the right insurance if you decide to take it out. We had the extras insurance for many years covering dental, optical, physio etc but we dropped it and we have not taken it out again as we found that the return was not worth the cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millers Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 we have been here for 3 months and decided not to take out an private health insurance...we just regostered with Medicare when we got here. I have had to have a couple of ultrasound scans and have had to pay for them but then you go to the medicare office and get approx 50% refund back there and then. I am due to have a small operation next week and its in a public hospital and so far i have been impressed with the public system...alot less waiting around than in the UK. I will not have to pay for anything next week for my op but jut my scans. Also- when i registered with a local doctors surgery here it was "bulk billing" which means that you dont pay anything to see the doctor( the bill goes straight to medicare)...some do bulk, some do partial ( so you would have to pay some). I hear dentists are expensive here but not needed to go yet. Hope this helps you...good luck with the move Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossmoyne Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Hi Tandcmum. You dont have to have private health insurance, but if you wear glasses and have a lot of dental work, then it might be worth looking at just having the "Ancillary" cover. All health insurance policies seem to have this option. There is a website that you can do a comparison with called www.iselect.com.au/compare which you might like to have a look at. Also bear in mind that if you need an ambulance, you will have to pay for it. Last year following a fall at home I had a little trip by ambulance to the A & E 20kmsa away. The bill was just under $700. However it was totally covered under my health insurance policy. You can just take out ambulance cover though direct with St Johns Ambulance Service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamjar Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 You do not need to take out insurance. If you are happy to have treatment in a public hospital then medicare will cover all the costs. We did not have health insurance for many many years and never needed it. My daughter has health problems and the public system looks after her very well without health insurance. The surcharge is only to encourage people on high incomes to take out the insurance. Private health has to be taken out by the age of 31 and after that there is a surcharge for every year added on to the premiums for age. We are retired now and have taken out insurance even though we pay a hefty surcharge this is because we are now in the time of our lives when we need more medical care and operations etc. Private health does not cover all costs, when you have private health the docs load their fees and you get to pay hefty gap fees. I have just had my knee replaced we are on top cover and our out of pocket expenses were over three thousand dollars and when you add on our health insurance premiums its getting up to six thousand dollars. If you want an obstetrician of your choice to deliver a baby then you need to be in the health fund for over 12 months before you can have the cover. Any pre existing condition you need to be in the health fund for over 12 months. The public system in Aus is very good and if we are in a car accident, fall down in the street, etc public is where we are taken. Its very confusing but you need to consider what your family needs and shop around for the right insurance if you decide to take it out. We had the extras insurance for many years covering dental, optical, physio etc but we dropped it and we have not taken it out again as we found that the return was not worth the cost. Hiya A bit confused - if medicare is good, why would you go private and pay the $3,000 for the knee replacment? Is it due to a waiting issue - on medicare you would have to wait a long time to get the op, where privately you can go immediately? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamjar Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 we have been here for 3 months and decided not to take out an private health insurance...we just regostered with Medicare when we got here. I have had to have a couple of ultrasound scans and have had to pay for them but then you go to the medicare office and get approx 50% refund back there and then. I am due to have a small operation next week and its in a public hospital and so far i have been impressed with the public system...alot less waiting around than in the UK. I will not have to pay for anything next week for my op but jut my scans.Also- when i registered with a local doctors surgery here it was "bulk billing" which means that you dont pay anything to see the doctor( the bill goes straight to medicare)...some do bulk, some do partial ( so you would have to pay some). I hear dentists are expensive here but not needed to go yet. Hope this helps you...good luck with the move Hiya Why would the op be covered but the scans (or 50% of them not covered) by medicare? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamjar Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 we are here in Oz on a PR visa and have registered with medicare, however a few people have told me that we will need to buy private health insurance still At the moment I am the only one working. I probably will earn over the single persons threshold of $80000, but i thought that as a family it was a total household income of $160000 which would mean we would have to pay the surcharge and need private health insurance, is this correct? Obviously when hubby gets a job and we have 2 incomes we will probably need to get health insurance and that is fine. Also can we get insurance for dental work, or some sort of dental plan without having to get hospital cover at all? You dont have to pay both. You only pay the extra medicare surcharge if you dont take private. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Hi Tandcmum. You dont have to have private health insurance, but if you wear glasses and have a lot of dental work, then it might be worth looking at just having the "Ancillary" cover. All health insurance policies seem to have this option. There is a website that you can do a comparison with called www.iselect.com.au/compare which you might like to have a look at. Also bear in mind that if you need an ambulance, you will have to pay for it. Last year following a fall at home I had a little trip by ambulance to the A & E 20kmsa away. The bill was just under $700. However it was totally covered under my health insurance policy. You can just take out ambulance cover though direct with St Johns Ambulance Service. Just a heads up I think the OP is in Qld so there are no ambulance charges....good advice for others though. Also iSelect miss a lot of the big health funds who refuse to pay their listing fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Hiya A bit confused - if medicare is good, why would you go private and pay the $3,000 for the knee replacment? Is it due to a waiting issue - on medicare you would have to wait a long time to get the op, where privately you can go immediately? Thanks Its a waiting issue as the hospital that I live near has a long waiting list for the operation. So by going private I got to elect when I had the operation. I mean it would have got done, I would not have had the surgeon of my choice and it would probably be more like two years to wait. We can afford it so why wait. That said I had a problem a few years ago, when we did not have insurance, saw a specialist, he put me on a list and I waited three weeks, I was surprised thought I would have to wait longer, but it depends on the urgency of the problem. My daughter had a seizure at work, took her to hospital, shadow on brain, they kept her in and operated two days later. So do not be worried if something is wrong it gets fixed, its just us old creaking gates that have to wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamjar Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Its a waiting issue as the hospital that I live near has a long waiting list for the operation. So by going private I got to elect when I had the operation. I mean it would have got done, I would not have had the surgeon of my choice and it would probably be more like two years to wait. We can afford it so why wait. That said I had a problem a few years ago, when we did not have insurance, saw a specialist, he put me on a list and I waited three weeks, I was surprised thought I would have to wait longer, but it depends on the urgency of the problem. My daughter had a seizure at work, took her to hospital, shadow on brain, they kept her in and operated two days later. So do not be worried if something is wrong it gets fixed, its just us old creaking gates that have to wait. Thanks for that, makes sense to me - who wants to wait 2 yrs - worth the money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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