health insurance?

[cathy99]

Hi. i'm just trying to work out which is the best health insurance or if it is even essential to have health insurance?

 

I've had a quote from nib of $230 a month for me, my husband, and two children.

 

Can anyone tell me if this is a good quote or maybe what they pay for insurance? Many thanks Cathy x

[wolvesaussie]

is it NOT essential to have health insurance, some people go on like its the USA, its not.. my family have never had it and so far, in 30 years thats not caused a problem. If you have a heart attack or get cancer you can go and get treatment at a public hospital just like you do in the UK

[Petals]

Not necessary unless you need elective surgery and are not prepared to wait for it to be carried out. That is the non urgent type of surgery, hips, knees, eyes, conditions mainly affecting the older people in the population. It also depends whether you can afford to pay for it and any gap fees that come with having it. If you are hurt at work, work cover covers your needs, if you are injured in a car you are covered by the motor accident insurance here so that just leaves the elective stuff.

[Quoll]

That sounds about right for family cover.

 

If you're a higher earner then it's a no brainer to take out private health insurance because you'd be paying it in the surcharge anyway. Another alternative might be to self insure, if you are disciplined enough - put that $230 into a dedicated account each month. If I were young and healthy I'd think of doing that.

 

We had it for years and there were a few times where I was very glad of it (waiting 18 months for a gall bladder removal? I don't think so!) for all that its real benefit is for elective procedures - it may be elective for the medical profession but they don't have to live with the pain and inconvenience, you and your kids do.

[VERYSTORMY]

I will disagree with the above for the need. I will say first that I was of a similar view and was debating can calling or limiting mine down - I have the best BUPA offer.

 

Then over the last few weeks I had some symptoms that were not pleasant and my GP was very concerned and said I needed an urgent gastronomic examination (camera in each end). The wait time was 9-12 months. My GP was of the opinion that if I was in the worst case scenario then I could not wait 12 months. So I went in through private with BUPA picking up all but $250 and was seen within 2 days.

 

Luckily the results came back ok and I will be fine. But, if I wasn't ok and had to wait a year I would probably be dead before my appointment.

[sijax]

Hi - in order to submit a 457 visa application we have been told that we need to show a certificate of health insurance simply to cover the period of the journey, until we can enroll on Medicare on arrival (from our advice, this is as simple as walking into a Medicate office and showing your passport). Travel insurance companies won't cover us, even though this is a simple, low risk, time-limited period because we will no longer have a UK address, and they need that should there be a claim.

 

So who have folks been using to get this kind of cover?

 

thanks!

[VERYSTORMY]

Just take normal travel insurance against your current address.

[DavidJEngland]

It is only necessary if your visa demands it and you are not covered by Medicare. However cover can remove some of the cost worries and can speed up some procedures for non life threatening ailments.

With whom to take cover is a matter of the tedious process of comparing many companies against cost and your own situation and requirements (including what you think you might require in the future). Look carefully at what is and what is not included, and what best matches what you want. I am afraid there is no quick answer, what is best for some is not best for others. (For me HIF is "best" because they were easiest to deal with by 'phone from England 10 years ago and have always been helpful.)

Net cost depends on your own tax position.

[jjgibbs]

You would think it is that easy in some cases it is not I'm afraid. You will need at least a copy of the visa grant letter. Even then you may still have difficulty. They just can not seem to grasp the electronically attached to your passport bit!!!

 

Hi - in order to submit a 457 visa application we have been told that we need to show a certificate of health insurance simply to cover the period of the journey, until we can enroll on Medicare on arrival (from our advice, this is as simple as walking into a Medicate office and showing your passport). Travel insurance companies won't cover us, even though this is a simple, low risk, time-limited period because we will no longer have a UK address, and they need that should there be a claim.

 

So who have folks been using to get this kind of cover?

 

thanks!

[sijax]

Just take normal travel insurance against your current address.

 

That's occurred to us, thanks, but that's a gamble, right? Should the worst case happen and we have an accident after clearing immigration but before we can register with Medicare, a UK travel insurance company would refuse to take the claim, not being a UK resident any longer...

[sijax]

It is only necessary if your visa demands it and you are not covered by Medicare. However cover can remove some of the cost worries and can speed up some procedures for non life threatening ailments.

 

A 457 visa submission does require a certificate of medical insurance simply to cover the initial journey and period from landing to Medicare enrollment. (NOTE: The advice of the agency supporting us is that you might get a cranky visa officer who actually wants to see cover starting from the date of visa application, since as soon as they issue it you could use it, even if not planning to travel for months yet.)

 

So, finding brief cover for just this period is our challenge. Maybe the only way to solve this is to take out proper healthcare cover to cover a much longer period of living in Oz, but we were hoping to avoid that.