Health/ ambulance insurance

[Guest julieandgang]

Hi we are moving to Melbourne 19th January, on 176 visa. Do we need to sort out health and ambulance insurance before we go?? I have 1 son with epilepsy, controlled on medication, will he be covered under medicare?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[Guest The Pom Queen]

You will need ambulance cover for sure look here http://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/Membership.html

Private insurance is up to you but you are PR so you do get Medicare and would be covered for most things. Prescription drugs are expensive though. There are a few members on here with epilepsy so they should be able to advise more. If you do a search for any medication on here you will get an idea of the cost http://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/

[Wellers and Whitehead]

I have epilepsy, and do not feel the need for Private health insurance. I did look into it but it gets very costly. My specialist in the UK changed my meds prior to moving to Oz and has so far managed it Ok (only 1 fit so far in 12mths). My medication costs only $40 per month (kepra), apparently one of the more expensive but medicare cover about half the cost as would be about $80 per month. Bit of a bugger you have topay for it when I got all my meds/prescriptions free in the UK!! Its no biggie though!

I have not sought any specialist intervention, mainly because I dont know if it would cost me?? Also because I am doing Ok at the mo.

I did not have ambulance cover when I had my first fit and went in to the nearest shop and told them I was about to have a fit, luckily she didnt call an ambulance as I didnt know you had to pay for them at the time. I have since taken out ambo cover with Bupa..about $40 for the year.

[Guest julieandgang]

Thanks, that's really helpful, my son is on keppra also. So much to think about with 3 weeks to go x

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Thanks, that's really helpful, my son is on keppra also. So much to think about with 3 weeks to go x

You will get there, it all falls in to place. Bring your sons medical notes with you and if possible it may be worth trying to get an extra few months of meds to put you on until you get sorted.

[Wellers and Whitehead]

If you have any other questions please ask. When flying keep your meds in the boxes with the labels on (so they dont think you are trying to sell them ha), seperate some tabs into hand luggage etc just in case you lose your bags..you can get 3 mths meds before you leave from GP..I would def do this whilst it is free. Ask your doc for amedical history print out, I havent needed it to be honest to brought mine. I've found the docs Ive used at several surgeries in Sydney pretty hopeless. On the plus side the GP should give you a prescription to last 5/6 mths, so you only really need to visit the GP twice in a year for scripts. open to drug misuse massively, but thats another thread ha!

[Wellers and Whitehead]

If your in a high risk group then you really should get ambulance cover.

I have also compared health insurance policies for immigrants here.

 

Just a small thing to consider. Most health insurance policies have ambulance cover but for emergency trips only.

A fit which may seem like an emergency may be deemed not necessary and you will have to pay the full price....worth keeping in mind!

 

That is for people on temp visas!