Roberta2 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Yes, I only know about it because I asked at Medibank yesterday. Thinking of my daughter in law's parents who want to come out from the UK in about two years' time. It's certainly something they will have to think carefully about, and will have only a year after arrival to decide. But if you're over 60, can you afford not to have it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Does anyone understand how this system works ?? Someone told me the government stop health insurers paying 100% - why ?? What a great idea, you find out you have some serious illness, so you have to worry how much you will have to pay as well. Unimpressed of Sydney...... It's a foreign country so you go with the flow! It's all been explained very well so I wont do it again but like all insurances having private health insurance is one of those risk management strategies that you either take or you dont. For us as higher income earners having private cover was a no brainer and TBH the "gap" payment for reducing an 18 month wait for surgery in one case to 18 days was alone worth it. Could be worse, you could be in America! I think new migrants need to forget what they were used to and just look at what they are facing at the moment. As for should newly arrived over 60s get private health - well, if they want the lower premiums then yes they should make that decision within 12 months of arrival. Will they need it? Who knows! If they are likely to want a hip replacement and dont want to be hanging about for a few years waiting for one then, yes, probably. If they're content to go with the flow and get to the top of the list whenever they get to the top of the list then maybe not (that is hugely dependent upon where you may be living!). My own experience is that the NHS is much quicker and they have operation target dates which (around here) are pretty well achieved I believe so you have a clue about when you might get the op you need. When I go back to Aus as I shall surely have to some time in the future then I will be getting private cover even though it is hellishly expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckleface Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Basically, you pay insurance premiums and if you have health problems, the insurer helps out with the cost of hospital treatment or specialist treatment. You will have to pay a fair bit yourself and you will get separate bills for the GP referral; initial consultation; xrays; hospital procedure; anaesthetist; pharmacy; hospital service charge; and any rehab. If you have Extras cover (physiotherapy, dentistry, medical devices, etc.) you will get a very small portion of your costs reimbursed - it will look better as they will say something like 60% up to an annual maximum of $500 - but then you'll find that the total cost is $2000, so the $500 you get back is only 25% of your total bill. You also have to bear in mind that if you get sick, you will lose your job and no longer be able to pay for the premiums, let alone for your own out of pocket expenses. You may also find that getting any form of reimbursement involves trips to their physical office (e.g. BUPA has two offices in the whole of Victoria) and then being told to come back with additional paperwork (which you may well have to pay for). The health system in Australia totally sucks; it is devoid of any innovation, waiting times can be horrendous if you don't go private, and if you go private, all anyone is interested in is seeing your credit card for the use of which you will then pay a surcharge (but Amex not accepted). I can see why this might happen if someone worked for a small business that couldn't afford to carry a sick employee indefinitely but in my experience larger employers will carry good employees after all leave options are exhausted when they have been with them for longer than 5 mins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckleface Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 My Aussie husband has been waiting 4 months to see an orthapoedic surgeon for his knee and is in excrutiating pain. He is only 51, has severe arthritis, a burst Baker's cyst and a torn ligament in his right knee and cannot take anti-inflammatories because he has Stage 3 kidney disease. He is likely to need a knee replacement. He is trying to hold down a part time cleaning job as well as be main carer for our three kids while I work. He is in agony with it. His GP had to write again to the hosptial as they categorised him as Category 3 (ie a 12 month wait to see a consultant) and has now been upgraded to Category 2 - another 3 month wait. I am glad your friend in her 80s got the operation so quickly but I doubt my much younger husband who probably has a lot more responsibilities will be so lucky. I'm sorry to hear about your husbands problems but this is the very reason we have always ensured we had health insurance - to avoid waiting times for things that aren't considered life threatening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 The healthcare that I've experienced here has been second to none. I've had two friends go through life threatening cancers again all free on Medicare even wigs!. My eldest daughter has received completely free maternity care all free. We have a really good healthcare policy but have not used it apart from glasses and dentist. We are in the high earner bracket so therefore we'd be mad not to have it. When I had to have urgent surgery recently the difference between private and Medicare was 1 week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike@Bonbeach Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 It bugs me that the 'Extras' cover you for a certain amount, for example Opticals (glasses), up to $300 in my case, so I go off to specsavers or wherever, order a pair of glasses, multifocal, scratch resistant etc,etc comes to $299 thinking thats it nothing to pay, but no I am asked to pay something like $120 because the Healthcare scheme will only pay 60% of the cost, so for me to get the full $300 they offer I would have to spend about $500 on a pair of glasses and still be expected to pay the gap of $200 or so. It's the same with physio,you only get back a certain percentage. Why dont the health companies allow you to claim the full whack, Then if you have to go for further treatment you pay yourself the full price. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 One other thing you must never, ever do is say you have private health cover if you go to Accident and Emergency. If you have no cover, it is all free. If you admit to having cover, you will get a large bill, some small percentage of which your insurer might reimburse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I've never had a bill at A&E nor has the OH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopylu Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 (edited) I'm sorry to hear about your husbands problems but this is the very reason we have always ensured we had health insurance - to avoid waiting times for things that aren't considered life threatening. Oh we do have health insurance to avoid paying the extra Medicare Levy but as 5 people live off my salary we don't have vast savings to pay for the huge gap so are forced down the public route. We used private health insurance to pay for my son to have his toe nail operated on and the gap was $900! I dread to think what it is for a knee replacement. As I said in my earlier post, I would rather pay my health insurance premiums in taxes and have a better public health care system where everyone, no matter what they earn, has equal access to the operations they need. People who go down the private route are, to all extent and purposes, queue jumpers. Edited February 2, 2015 by Loopylu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 One other thing you must never, ever do is say you have private health cover if you go to Accident and Emergency. If you have no cover, it is all free. If you admit to having cover, you will get a large bill, some small percentage of which your insurer might reimburse. This isn't true.. If you go to accident and emergency you are getting treated by the public system. Only if you then move to a private hospital or see private specialists will you face gaps. You can even opt to use your private cover (Gap free) in the public hospital, for the sake of the hospital (this is encouraged as the public hospitals are generally under funded). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nphilips Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 It's only stupid if you pay it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckleface Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 One other thing you must never, ever do is say you have private health cover if you go to Accident and Emergency. If you have no cover, it is all free. If you admit to having cover, you will get a large bill, some small percentage of which your insurer might reimburse. We have top private cover but when my husband was taken to A&E in a critical condition we didn't pay anything. As soon as I got there I identified we had private insurance but as the neurosurgeon our Doctor recommended was already treating him he was admitted as a public patient. It was only when he was out of intensive care and on the road to recovery that we switched to going private so he could have his own room and continue to receive care from the doctor of our choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Oh we do have health insurance to avoid paying the extra Medicare Levy but as 5 people live off my salary we don't have vast savings to pay for the huge gap so are forced down the public route. We used private health insurance to pay for my son to have his toe nail operated on and the gap was $900! I dread to think what it is for a knee replacement. As I said in my earlier post, I would rather pay my health insurance premiums in taxes and have a better public health care system where everyone, no matter what they earn, has equal access to the operations they need. People who go down the private route are, to all extent and purposes, queue jumpers. Well if you want that kind of health service then maybe move back to UK because that isn't the way the Aus system works - when in Rome and all that! It's designed that the private system takes the load off the publics and people take personal responsibility, not a thing to do with queue jumping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopylu Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Well if you want that kind of health service then maybe move back to UK because that isn't the way the Aus system works - when in Rome and all that! It's designed that the private system takes the load off the publics and people take personal responsibility, not a thing to do with queue jumping I would glady move backto the UK but like you I am married to an Aussie and have children at high school so not really an option. My husband spent 15 years in the UK and so it is now my turn to live in his country. I prefer to hope that the Australian electorate sees sense and we get an administration like the Obama administration that seeks to remove the injustice in health care provision where the poor in Australia get shafted (eg my MIL, a pensioner, who waited 5 years for a hip replacement). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I prefer to hope that the Australian electorate sees sense and we get an administration like the Obama administration that seeks to remove the injustice in health care provision where the poor in Australia get shafted (eg my MIL, a pensioner, who waited 5 years for a hip replacement). I think this nails the lie about no difference in waiting times between the UK and Australia - and about private health care not being about queue jumping. FWIW, waiting times for elective procedures in Scotland are 18 weeks or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberta2 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I think this nails the lie about no difference in waiting times between the UK and Australia - and about private health care not being about queue jumping. FWIW, waiting times for elective procedures in Scotland are 18 weeks or less. If the NHS is so superior to the Australian health system, why do so many nurses on this Forum say that they want to emigrate to get away from the NHS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopylu Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I think this nails the lie about no difference in waiting times between the UK and Australia - and about private health care not being about queue jumping. FWIW, waiting times for elective procedures in Scotland are 18 weeks or less. Quinkla - I googled the average waiting time for what was my local hospital in the UK for the first meeting with a consultant re knee surgery - 95 days (ie approx 3 months) and people were complaining in the local press that it had gone up from 85 days! 18 weeks (126 days) is the maximum time they can let you wait in the UK. My husband has been waiting five months (150+ days) now in Qld and counting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopylu Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 If the NHS is so superior to the Australian health system, why do so many nurses on this Forum say that they want to emigrate to get away from the NHS? Because the grass is always greener. Not long after we arrived in Brisbane, my husband collapsed and was taken by ambulance to the RBH. We had a British ambulance crew who took us in and we had to wait a couple of hours for my husband to be removed from the gurney and put in an bed in the A&E department. The ambos were complaining that the conditions are worse for them here in Brisbane (ie time to transfer patients at A&E) and they are not allowed to use the extensive paramedic skills they learned in the NHS to relieve pain and stabilise patients... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 If the NHS is so superior to the Australian health system, why do so many nurses on this Forum say that they want to emigrate to get away from the NHS? It's partly because people sometimes get fed up with their employer, and if you are a nurse in the UK you have skills that allow you to walk into a job in Australia. Also, it may well be that the factors that make the Australian health system so inferior for patients make it a better place to be employed - e.g. far more private day hospitals that would not require shift work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akiralx Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The scenario, often cited in this forum, is when migrants take out insurance (to avoid the surcharge), then when they need treatment *never claim* - because the gap payment between the cost and what the treatment costs is too high - so they have it on Medicare. So the insurance company is receiving premiums but will never have to pay a claim - something wrong there... nice work if you can get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberta2 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Because the grass is always greener. Not long after we arrived in Brisbane, my husband collapsed and was taken by ambulance to the RBH. We had a British ambulance crew who took us in and we had to wait a couple of hours for my husband to be removed from the gurney and put in an bed in the A&E department. The ambos were complaining that the conditions are worse for them here in Brisbane (ie time to transfer patients at A&E) and they are not allowed to use the extensive paramedic skills they learned in the NHS to relieve pain and stabilise patients... When you hang around hospitals and aged care places as much as I have lately, you certainly hear a lot of British accents! Never had any trouble personally with waiting times with hospitals- either Prince Charles or Redcliffe (both public hospitals) with both of my elderly parents being taken in by ambos many times over the last five years. Luckily Dad was not taken to Redcliffe on a Friday or Saturday night though - problems then are not the hospital staff, but the drunken louts who get into brawls etc. It seems to be true though that the doctors here have carved out and preserved for themselves areas of medicine that are occupied by others in the UK. Not surprising - the Australian Medical Association is probably the most powerful trade union in the country, although only 40% of doctors belong to it. It opposed "socialized medicine" for years, fighting tooth and nail against Medicare (originally Medicare) brought in by the Hawke Labor government. It's quite an active debate here, since the Medicare Levy pays only half of the actual costs of Medicare. Health care costs are rising rapidly because of the ageing of the population etc. So why can't nurse practitioners, midwives and many others do more things than they are allowed to do now, which they would do more cheaply than doctors do. ? It's to do mostly with the incomes of doctors, though all dressed up as "safety of patients". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I think this nails the lie about no difference in waiting times between the UK and Australia - and about private health care not being about queue jumping. FWIW, waiting times for elective procedures in Scotland are 18 weeks or less. It seems to depend a lot on where you live. On another thread someone just posted that their waiting time for a spinal fusion in Australia is 6-12 months but in the UK it's 12-18 months. Whereas I've known people here in Sydney have an operation within weeks on Medicare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Ok I should be an expert on this. Firstly when I was diagnosed with cancer in Melbourne I had no private health insurance, I was seen within 3 days. I spent many weeks in Melbourne hospitals and never paid a penny. When I moved to Cairns my GP informed me that I needed to get private insurance as there weren't the specialists to treat me up here and if there were, because of government cut backs it would be months and months wait if it wasn't urgent. 3 years ago I had parts of my body removed in the public hospital, I had no fees but they damaged my spine and left me not being able to toilet myself. Then I found out I had cancer of the esophogus and after reading up the operation I needed was very risky and I had 50/50 chance so we used our private insurance and chose the best specialist in the country this cost us thousands especially as we had to pay for accommodation in another state and take my youngest out of school. Since then I've had more body parts removed 90% of stomach, gall bladder (not needed anyway) and part of my liver. This hasn't cost me a penny because my original surgeon was lovely and I think he felt sorry for me so he didn't charge a gap, he also spoke to the anesthetist who also decided not to charge me, so I've had around 8 or 9 more ops this last 12 month (sorry I can't remember the figure exactly but let's say I spent a total of 8 months locked up) and I didn't pay a penny. Yes I was lucky (well if you call it lucky) that I had a great surgeon who felt sorry for me as without that and with private I would have probably had a bill of around $70,000 if not more. So when you have private insurance you go to the GP and he will issue a referral, if your private you can have a read up and see who you want to be refered to, like I said it doesn't even have to be someone in your state. A lot of surgeons interstate will do Skype interviews. An initial appointment is around $160. If if you go to hospital you need to be an inpatient to be able to claim on BUPA. Most hospitals will get you to pay your excess up front ours is $200 but you only pay that once a year, so although I was in and out of hospitals both up here and in Sydney I still only paid it once. You won't pay anything else for your room. Other costs that you will have is Theatre Room - depends on how long you are in but around $850 this is covered Anesthetic - Again it varies on surgeon my original op I think I paid $1200 out of pocket but he waived this for all the others Surgeon - You need to ask your surgeon how much the gap will be that you need to pay as not all are as nice as mine. Blood tests - For some reason I have always been charged for blood tests usually $85 XRays/Imagining - this is something I can't understand still as I paid out $1000 and only got back $300 from Medicare bupa refused to pay. I could argue it as they called them in as an emergency whilst I was knocked out so they hadn't got my authorisation but as I've got to have more operations down there I decided to just pay. Medicines (now if they subscribe you morphine etc you don't pay for this, but say you have regular meds and forget to bring them you pay for them) Now when I was in hospital up here the surgeon tried to charge me for every day he came in, I was in hospital for 8 weeks I think up here and he tried to charge me a gap of $250 per day. By law they ar suppose to tell you all costs up front and no one had warned me he would bill me nearly $15,000 , I refused to pay it and argued my case he finally let it go. He is the only one ever to try this on but its worth mentioning so that you know what to expect. This year I am going to need probably another 4 operations and again for 3 I will go private, the 4th one is suppose to be this month and that's public. So, if you are still awake, should you have private health insurance.... If you are a normal healthy person then no. If you have pre exisiting conditions but live in a big city then I would say no. If you live somewhere rural with limited specialists then a huge yes from me. REMEMBER Just because you have private health cover doesn't mean to say you have to use it. If it's a simple op then I wouldn't, if it's a life saving op then yes use it and find the best bloody surgeon. All the above is my experience obviously this could be totally different to other people's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 One other thing you must never, ever do is say you have private health cover if you go to Accident and Emergency. If you have no cover, it is all free. If you admit to having cover, you will get a large bill, some small percentage of which your insurer might reimburse. Up here we get asked if we have but they say they won't charge you a penny and they will claim from BUPA to help with the running fees of the hospital. I have never been charged at the public hospital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Oh we do have health insurance to avoid paying the extra Medicare Levy but as 5 people live off my salary we don't have vast savings to pay for the huge gap so are forced down the public route. We used private health insurance to pay for my son to have his toe nail operated on and the gap was $900! I dread to think what it is for a knee replacement. As I said in my earlier post, I would rather pay my health insurance premiums in taxes and have a better public health care system where everyone, no matter what they earn, has equal access to the operations they need. People who go down the private route are, to all extent and purposes, queue jumpers. When you say toe nail was it an in growing toe nail? If so the local GP's usually do this and bulk bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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