Health Care Cover

[Roxy1990]

Hi All,

 

Just wondering what cover you would recommend for a family.. don't think we'd be interested in the hospital cover but ive heard a lot of people have the extras? Whats the 'norm' if there is one?

We're a family of 3...2 adults, 1 baby. Dad is VERY accident prone! Tends to require Physio ALOT. haha

 

Thanks

[Marisawright]

There isn't a norm, it's really up to you. I'm one of those who'd say, don't bother with hospital cover. I see it from both sides as my oh has never had health insurance, whereas I (like many Aussies) got scared into it by all the "but you'll be on a waiting list" hype.

 

However, I'm not sure if any of the insurance companies will sell you Extras cover without hospital cover. The best place to start is to get comparisons at iselect.com.au and choosi.com.au

 

Remember, on both those sites, they're not comparing every health insurance policy in Australia - only the ones that pay them commission! But they're a good starting point.

 

If you have to take out hospital cover, look for minimum hospital cover that lets you set a high excess or co-payment (which will keep the cost down).

[Ellie 2]

Well, I'm of the opposite view to Marisawright. When I came to Australia there was no Medicare and everyone had to have health insurance, I wish it had never been changed. Anyway I have kept my medical benefits and am so glad I did - for lots of reasons. The major one being when any of my family needed hospital care they got it immediately. However you must decide what is best for you, no matter what anyone says. I do believe health funds have extras cover only.

[Chortlepuss]

Hospital cover comes into its own when you need to be admitted for non urgent minor operations - the kind of thing you'd be bumped for in private sector, or maybe treatment for chronic conditions . If you have anything serious/life threatening then the public/state system cover via Medicare is very good, and to be honest I'd be terrified of gap payments if I had to be in hospital for a long time - the gap (difference between what your provider pays and what the service charges) can easily run into a lot of money - I paid about $3K gap for a minor op (I had full hospital cover!) - Paid $1K gap for daughter's wisdom teeth removal. Both procedures not available on the public system (or not without a significant wait). My mate had a baby and switched from originally going private to public system during preganancy - the baby was premature and needed hospitalization for weeks - to say they dodged a bullet was an understatement - She told me that if they were private they would have had to have sold their house to pay the gap!

[fairystar32]

Hi, we have had friends who have lived here over 20 yrs, never had private and never felt the need, we do not have private either but we do have extras, which helps with a family of 6 towards dentists mainly.

 

I have friends with private and they may get seen earlier but they are also out of pocket thousands as well as the costs each mth for the private cover payments. Seeing what they pay and the treatment we have recieved in the public sector ( had operations and been in hospital) I personally wouldnt get private as anything urgent, you are seen pretty quickly anyway and its like th NHS wait, I wouldnt have private in the UK either.

[VERYSTORMY]

Let me put my case.

 

This year I went to the doc with some worrying symptoms and she was very concerned I had bowel cancer. I was sent to seed a specialist immediately who had the same conclusion. But a colonoscopy had a wait list of 12 - 18 months. By which time I would be either dead or untreatable.

 

I had BUPA. I was seen and operated within 3 days. All good now.

 

You decide.

[bwatt99]

Let me put my case.

 

This year I went to the doc with some worrying symptoms and she was very concerned I had bowel cancer. I was sent to seed a specialist immediately who had the same conclusion. But a colonoscopy had a wait list of 12 - 18 months. By which time I would be either dead or untreatable.

 

I had BUPA. I was seen and operated within 3 days. All good now.

 

You decide.

 

When you have private health can you choose what one you wish to use at the time of the problem,like yours above you may have not been here anymore if not for the health cover but say for example wife has a baby and goes private all paid for vs out of pocket with health cover,do they know if you have private health and make you used it or are you then marked off the Medicare system for having such cover confused why say someone would say have a baby and be out of pocket when going through Medicare mostly free.

[Cissi]

Unless you have Top Hospital cover, PHI tend to pay MBS (minimum benefit schedule) for some of the hospital treatments. The benefit is that you get quicker access and choice of doctors, hospitals. But yes, you still pay for the gap between MBS and whatever the private hospital charges. For example, BUPA budget hospital cover ($82/person/month) only pays MBS for child birth, IVF, renal dialysis, and hip and knee joint replacement. Essentially you will be paying to get to the top of the waiting list, but open to whatever charges above MBS in a private hospital, which I think is scary!

 

My husband and I have PHI through work and it would have cost us $320/month ($246/month for both if top hospital cover only) if we were to pay for it ourselves. I think extras are a waste of money, to be honest, and I feel that unless you get top hospital cover, PHI is not worth the financial benefits.