RachelGreep Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Maybe I am really stupid but I am struggling with this. We recently arrived in Melbourne and signed up for Medicare with a view to private healthcare insurance if/when we can afford it. Recently we got a letter from Medicare reminding us that we need to take out private insurance to avoid "loading" as we are over 30 so must do so withing 12 months of arriving in Oz otherwise face loading. I have looked at the govt website and I am still confused. What kind of private healthcare do we need to take out to avoid loading? Also, I naively thought the private health insurance vs Medicare was kind of like the UK where if you pay for private health cover, you go private. Everything included, none of this "gaps" etc business. It is very complex. I have looked at Hospital Cover with Medibank and a few other companies that add on "extras" for dental/optical but then go on to mention things like Chiro, OB/GYN etc so my head is spinning. Can anyone explain things simply for me? My husband keeps saying we will "get it sorted" but then nothing happens so I am being left to wade through it all myself and I am totally lost. When I searched on here for help, I got even more confused because a lot of people seem to have private health insurance (not sure what level/kind) but choose to use it only if they really need to as they can end up running up massive bills when you can just get treated on Medicare in a public hospital. Also, you can have private insurance but end up in a public hospital having to pay through the nose for it... Help! :arghh: I honestly want to scream! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Yes it's crap isn't it. I'm currently pregnant and going public. I haven't paid a cent for anything. People going private are paying up to $6k!!!! Public has been great so far. Personally I'd save your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave53 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 The " loading " you mention is the surcharge you pay over and above the regular private health fund rates for every year of age over the age of 30 .. For example if you are 35 years old you will pay 2% x5=10% extra on your health care fund rate . So to put it easy to understand , just say your monthly premium was normally $300 , you would pay $300+10% surcharge ... if you earn in excess of $88,000 as an individual or $176,000as a couple you will pay a levy on your Government Medicare payments if you do not belong to a private health scheme , so for some individuals or couples it is financially beneficial to belong to a private fund , although I don't know anyone who earns that sort of income . It's a personal choice whether to belong to a private scheme or not , from my point of view and after being privately insured , it's a complete waste of money .. Ive just paid out $000's of my own hard earned over and above what my monthly payments were . The monthy subscription went up 16% !!! ... Dave C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownEyedGal Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Hi Rachel It took me months to understand a simplified version of what Dave53 has succinctly summarised. I joined a company but like Dave53, I think its a total waste of money. I don't have any 'extras' as I would rather pay as an when I needed things. I have the obligatory 'ambulance cover'. I took it out because I'm in my 50's and I thought I'm on my own in this country, so it would be beneficial. But my god it keeps going up and you don't get much back from the tax man either. So I have to seriously think about whether to keep it and just put the money aside for it in a high(!) interest account. The reason you got the letter is that once you join Medicare, you have a year from then on, to make a decision on whether to take out health insurance or not - that was the trigger. If you have no children and are in fairly good health - then think long and hard about it - otherwise its a peace of mind kind of safety net. Don't forget those 'gaps'!! BEGal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Im with Blossom, save your money and use the Medicare system,its worked for me over the last few years and i have no complaints. Infact the people i know who complain about health costs are the ones with Private cover who seem to end up paying a huge gap. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 It's one of those gamble things like insurance always is. For some, private health cover is a bottomless money pit and for others it is an absolute godsend and you won't know which one you will be! Having had several "elective" procedures I am damned glad that I had top hospital cover (waiting 18 months to have a gall bladder removal, nah, I think not!). For me, the benefits were to avoid the preposterous waiting times and to have the doctor I wanted to do the procedure and, sure, I was out of pocket but it was worth every cent. Would I take out private insurance again? Yes, if I was over the threshold of income (we were, when we took it initially, so it was a bit of a no brainer) but if I were young and healthy I would be inclined to self insure - put your $300 a month religiously into a dedicated health cover account, not to be touched for anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelGreep Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Hi everyone. Thanks for the clarification. I am scared either way because I don't know exactly what the deal is with gaps and all that stuff. I suppose we will learn as we go along (like everything else ) We had a look at the different levels of hospital cover and even the basic is a bit too expensive for us at the moment. Hopefully we will have our heads together a bit better in a while and we can look again before we get to our 1 year miilestone. Everything costs so much money! I wish I had realised everything we would need to budget for but it is impossible isn't it? It's not really til you get here that you realise exactly what you need to get sorted... unless you are mega organised before you leave the UK and know it all. I sure didn't and I thought I had done so well with my silly checklists!!! Thanks for the replies. We are sticking with Medicare for now and are going to look into at least basic hospital cover just in case but are going to put away the cash each month for now as you suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 The only thing i ever pay a gap fee with is visting my GP, thankfully i only have to do this about once or twice a year as my hospital specialist (fully covered by medicare) writes my Scrpits etc when i see her. If i do go to the GP it costs about $65 and before i leave the clinic Medicare have already refunded approx $36 back into my account, so not a massive gap really. At the hospital my blood tests, scans, x-rays, minor ops' etc are all fully covered by Medicare meaning there is no gap fee to pay. My children are seen by a bulk billing GP as is my hubby, they have no gap fee, it is all covered by Medicare. Hope this helps a little Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochie Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 We're going through our first pregnancy in the public Medicare system and couldnt ask for more. In our local hospital the only benefit seems to be that the corridor in the birthing suite has carpet and each room has it's own TV. Before we conceived naturally, we were going to go for IVF which would have been totally out-of-pocket. The run-up to this cost us $1500 (after the Medicrae refunds) in tests and appointments that in the end, we diddnt actually need! Private cover during that period would have cost us more so we're still better off. We now have a dedicated bank account for health related savings. We pay in $250 per month and it's mounting up significantly - We'll get interest on that money and in due course will transfer it to our offset mortgage account so it'll help us pay off a mortgage sooner. Try doing that with private health cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgeman Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Just be aware that dentists are all private here in Australia, so you might want to get some basic cover for that. We have just a basic HBF Essentials cover for things we personally might need and this includes dentist. But we are over 60 so will probably need to use the services more. We do not have private hospital cover as we can't afford it and if you don't have this and earn over the limit mentioned you will have to pay an extra Medicare supplement on top of the 2% everyone pays. I agree with the 'gap' system being ridiculous. It allows private doctors etc to charge what they like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melstra Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 It's really worth looking into properly & having a consultation to see if it's worth it for you as there are so many variables to consider gap no gap which fund is best for what services you will use etc it's not just hospital cover it's extras too if you use optical dental check ups etc or need more complex work what you often spend you can claim back more than your premium and be better off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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