How much does health care cost i oz?

[Guest chiversfamily]

Hi everyone, was just wondering how much medcare cost in Australia as we have the NHS in the Uk.

 

any advice would be great on monthly costs etc, also what happens if you need op or treatment, as abit worried about this because have 3 kids.

 

Also cost of dental check up etc.

[Chortlepuss]

I have two teenage children who are admittedly very expensive - at least one of us (family of four) has required a minor op/surgery/extensive dental work (wisdom teeth extraction) each year - Been in Brissie for 5 years, have full hospital health cover - and cover, out of pocket expenses and drs etc runs about $7-8K per year in total. This is after tax and a significant chunk of my husband's take home salary. You can get tax relief on all medical costs incurred over $2K per year

[Guest chiversfamily]

Thankyou for that.

[whichway1]

I lived in Oz for five years without private health insurance. emergency treatment is covered in medicare (which comes out of your wages like tax). You can go to Emergency dept without being out of pocket and get necessary ops. What you can't get is non essential treatment, ie I paid a ridiculous amount to get my wisdom teeth out (about 3k I think) which I totally feel conned out of, but that is a whole other story. You can be admitted to public hospital as long as it is essential. IMO I didn't find it too much different from the NHS. I paid about $65 per GP visit but got $30 something back from medicare, I can't remember how much a dental check up was I think about $70, but then of course treatment would be dear. You have to pay for all your prescriptions, even contraceptives, and babies and children too, you have to pay for theirs, and you have to pay the actual price of the drug not a set price. Some meds I suppose were quite dear but cheaper than health insurance. I had my baby in public hospital and received pre and post natal treatment. Mostly I didn't really find it that different. I worked in public hospital too and saw a lot of people get a lot of things too not unlike the UK.

[calNgary]

We have been in QLD coming up for 6 years and have never had private healthcare. We get full coverage of Medicare , the children see a bulk billing Dr so that doesnt cost and i have regular hospital appointments with specialists, scans, blood tests etc and everything is covered by Medicare. The only thing i have to pay for is any prescriptions.

 

Dentists currently dont work with the Medicare system so you have to pay. Children can see a school dentist for check ups , fillings etc and this is free but if you go to a practice you will have to pay.

 

Cal x

[PontePom]

We also found medicare to be good enough

 

We only pay for the extra's which does help with dentist, glasses and lots more

 

When i looked at full cover there was so much excess to pay before you can claim it didn't seem worth the cost

 

I've had 1 operation since being here on public system and very happy with it

 

I needed to have an gastroscopy and decided to have it done privately

 

I think it cost me $360 and I wasn't happy at all with the service provided

 

So going public for my next one for sure

 

Howard

[JoandJon]

We've got full private cover, but haven't had to use it yet. There's a 12 month wait for obstetrics, which would have been nice to have the option to go private...

Public maternity care has been brilliant so far - the appointments have even been available out of working hours which has been great

Despite the insurance not covering it, we went private for the amniocentesis back @ 15 weeks (all clear - yay!) and that was pricey, but got a fair bit back on medicare.... In fact I have the bills and receipts here:

For the procedure itself (i.e. ultrasound plus sticking a needle in my belly): fee = $262, got back $108 from medicare

For the genetic testing (i.e. lab fees for analysing the specimen): fee = $700, got back ~$300 from medicare (but $200 of that was for the FISH analysis which doesn't attract any rebate)

 

I know that only relates to one specific medical expense, but it might give you an idea. We could have elected to go public for the amnio, but the waiting time for it would have meant a longer delay, and given the possible outcome (high risk of Trisomy 18 / Edwards syndrome = not compatible with life) we wanted a quick turn around.

 

Cheers

[Sammy1]

Hi

 

I have found that dental care is the most expensive outgoing health wise in Australia.Whilst it is free to see the school dentist, I don't take my children there as the appointments are only once every 18 months and I felt the treatment was inadequate.Medicare does not cover adult dental treatment, so whenever I see a dentist I take my credit card along prepared to hurt a little more than I should.....

 

I had both my children in the public hospital system and it was very good - single rooms on the maternity ward. My youngest son was seriously ill as a baby and required treatment for many weeks, evacuating to an intensive care unit in a major city by the RFDS and he was on life support for a long time. All of this treatment was free on medicare.

 

The only thing I had to pay for were pregnancy scans, but then I received a percentage back through medicare.

You do have to wait a long time to see a specialist for non emergency treatment though - but then that is the same in the UK. There are not any bulk billing Doctors where I live, so it means a trip to the GP does have to be paid for, but again a percentage is received back. I have also had to pay for private speech therapy as the services are severely lacking and only available up to age 5 - this changes depending on where you live in the country though.

 

Overall I feel it is very similar to the UK, as emergency treatment and operations are not charged and I have found the medical services here excellent - they saved my child's life.

[keily]

agree with everything said ..we have been here 3.5 yrs and never had private ....only advice i can give is ...if ur coming to wa make sure u get ambulance cover ....o/h had a heartattack last year and it cost $825 for emergency transfer to hospital ...all other costs were covered by medicare ....ohh and he had a tooth out whilst holidaying in sydney $350 ...ooouch ...he said that hurt more than the tooth

 

mrs keily

[Mr Monkey]

Ref Medicare - I don't see any deductions from my salary ( am on 457 visa) - am I right in thinking an amount will be deducted from my end of year tax return?

[Guest guest74886]

Hi Chivers family

Medicare is pretty good provision but is patchy on provision of GP's especially outside the major city centers, like on new build developments and rural areas which can start as close in as 30k to cities. Dentists are very expensive and glasses are expensive and there are a lot of restrictions on care and facilities for disabled; system for tests and such like and GP visits is that federal system sets what it will pay in fees and then lets individuals charge pretty well what they like so you have to hunt around for entities which offer 'Bulk billing'; which means they only charge at federal charges level and patient does not pay extra, but these are getting less and less available; if you take out private health insurance it is only hospital insurance.ie. it only covers costs incurred with a hospital visit, and usually not emergency treatment in emergency department at hospital.

state run hospitals in the big cities are pretty good with emergency departments but like everywhere are stretched to the limit with things like hips and knees and hernias. Costs of things like physio and chiropody are very high and if you have an op on private health care are only part covered by the insurer and boy does it tot up

recently had knee op and physio cost $1800 of which insurance paid about $500, one thing to look up on Govt website is rules about getting a special deal if you sign up to private health cover within 6 months of landing which means you are treated as a young person when getting your premium quoted, too complicated for me to explain, but medicare office will explain when you go to sign up for medicare card.

I would think about private health cover at its lowest level if you think its worth just in case; and to protect your premium from being astronomical when older

It does mean you can have a choice of surgeon and timing but everything will be much the same as public hospital just a bit more up market, but see if there is a low cost no frills policy which will let you choose your add ons like dental and glasses, glasses are about $200 for basic and dental check up around us is about $250, fillings around $300-400? and a crown around $750-1250? of which private health will only pay a part, when looking at costs of private health ask how much the insurers will pay for specific things like glasses and crowns and fillings and then ask opticians and dentists what they charge and then decide whether you want to pay the premium. I had my knee done private and altho insurance paid about $16000 I still paid out in excess of $6000 for Anesthetist, my choice of surgeon and physio but I did get it done within 6 weeks of it collapsing and being on crutches.

I find people here less stressed in the health system and able to spend time with you but the older hospital doctors find it more difficult to communicate, getting tests done like blood tests and MRIs is much easier because you go to a private test center of which their are loads so apart from the cost issues it is easier, and if you have an ongoing condition that requires regular tests then there is a fixed fee for the tests which is automatically paid by medicare

When looking for a dentist ring around and find out charges as they are all little businesses out to make a profit

That is all a bit of a brain dump and hope it helps

You can have health care without insurance and it is only in some states that that you have to pay for ambulance service and then you take out ambulance cover only I believe , here in QLD it is covered by a premium levied on your electric bill.:rolleyes: