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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Private Health Insurance

-T{H}R- said:
Incorrect. You can have a level premium up to a certain age (typically 65), when it reverts to a stepped premium. When you elect a level premium, you subsidise your premium later in life by paying more earlier in life.

For most people, either the premium increases or your Sum Insured decreases. So there is typically no advantage in taking it out younger (although I am a definite proponent of having life cover and in particular, income protection).
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I think ruski was referring to the lifetime healthcare loading...there is a definite advantage in getting hospital cover before you turn 31, otherwise you will be charged an additional loading if you get it later on down the track.

The good news is for those of us planning on making it to 65 and 70, you do indeed get a higher rebate on your premiums automatically at those magical ages! :D

(of course, even assuming I live that long, the way the rates increase I'd be lucky if I could afford it anyway...lol..)
 
I earn about $65/70k p/a but I manage to avoid paying the medicare levy because I put a lot of effort into my tax return, without doing a thing dodgy. I also don't have private cover, because since I work for a public hospital I get staff discounts, in addition many things are already covered. Involved in a car accident, TAC. Injured at work, Workcover. Injured on holiday overseas, Travel Insurance. Injured whilst playing squash, compulsory player insurance. O/D'ing at a party, oh wait I don't seem to do that anymore :\.

The only thing that I could use private health cover is dental work, but I have to wait 2 years before claiming anything and even then some things can't be claimed because of pre-existing faults. So really why should I fork out money on dental plans that are really quite pathetic. Besides, there are times that where if you've come in under private health cover that you aren't treated as well as if you are a public patient. This is down to the nature of the complicated WEISS calculation process that seems to require a PHD in abstract maths to understand fully.

I'd agree that with sunflower that the public system is in somewhat of a crisis, but it's a lot down to the persistent bitching and people playing the blame game on each other. The health system is in crisis because people are so scared of being blamed for anything. Fear of litigation seems to be a concern on every person's mind and many people are so petty, they'll use it as a way to gain power. Even something as simple as changing a battery in a clock, many clincal staff won't do because if something went wrong they wouldn't get Workcover because they did someone elses job.
 
^^You're right about dental plans....I CRINGE whenever people ring us at work to find out how much they're getting back on their stupidly expensive orthodontic work.... 8o
 
Lisa needs braces! (Dental plan!)

sorry I couldn't help myself.

Raving Loony: I can't possibly see how you can get "out" of paying the Medicare Levy. It's pretty cut and dried. Don't have private health cover? You pay. It's a yes or no answer, at least on the online tax form I complete each year.
 
Strawberry_lovemuffin said:
Lisa needs braces! (Dental plan!)

sorry I couldn't help myself.
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This is completely off topic (sorry mods ;) but while in thailand, i picked up a pirate copy of Jodie Foster's film "Flight Plan", but all i could think of was "Dental Plan (lisa needs braces!) Dental Plan (lisa needs braces!)". I then started calling the movie "Dental Plan", and Scott had no idea what i was talking about. 8(

On topic: I have to get braces on my top teeth, orthodontics is part of my plan, but i'm aware that it doesn't cover a hell of alot. We mainly got it as scott may need knee reconstruction, for when we have a child and "just in case".
 
After Georgia's surgery last week, I thought it was about time we got some private health insurance (I know, we have two kids, we should probably have had it already).

Soo.. who has it, who are you with, what extras do you have and anything else you'd care to share? I am completely clueless!
 
To be fair, the other thread doesn't really talk about companies and policies :p I will merge!
 
Strawberry_lovemuffin said:
- it's MUCH better to call an ambulance out if you don't need it, than not call it, and you possibly DO need it. The Ambulance guys don't CARE... there are enough of them (luckily) to handle most emergencies, they are actually *relieved* if you don't actually want them... the police are NEVER called unless there's a death, and they don't question you or ring your parents or any shit like that if you've taken drugs, they just take care of you, no questions asked.

I think anyone who takes ANY illict drugs and does not pay $55 a year (or whatever it is in your state) to be covered for an ambulance seriously needs their head red.
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Thats some of the best harm minimisation advice ive seen on BL :)

You almost certainly WILL be at a party someplace and someone WILL do something stupid and life threatening with drugs.
What will you do?
 
When I was at uni I was covered by my parents' health insurance and haven't bothered getting my own, for several reasons.

Firstly, it is wayyyy too confusing. The times I have contemplated taking out insurance, I look at a few different companies and their different plans at different prices which include different things, and it just gets too much!!

Involved in a car accident, TAC. Injured at work, Workcover. Injured on holiday overseas, Travel Insurance. Injured whilst playing squash, compulsory player insurance.
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Probably the main reason I haven't bothered with private health cover. I can afford to see a GP when I need to, I have ambulance cover and (most of the time) if you're dying, the public health system will look after you.

About a year ago I had a tonsillectomy (extremely painful, not recommended), I only had to wait about 6 months and was a priority 2. The hospital was fine & the staff treating me were fantastic, no different I would imagine to those in a private hospital.
I've had a little trouble with my knee in the past & broke my nose last year, the xrays were all free and seeing the physio (only a few times) was pretty cheap too from what I remember.

I'm relatively young & healthy tho. If I had a family I would definately take out private health insurance. I work in Aged & Disability services and think that old people or anyone with a chronic illness would have rocks in their head not to have health insurance. Community health waiting lists are outrageous (some places have 2-3 month wait to see an OT/Physio).

I'm just not sure that insurance would be 'worth it' for me - it just seems so outrageously expensive! I wear contact lenses and see an optometrist every 12 months but apparently I get some kind of discount because I'm nearly blind (!). I haven't seen a dentist in about 8 years but I don't ever have problems with my teeth. No need to see any specialists though I'd possibly consider extras if I did have insurance.
 
Shoot Me In The Belly

^Pipit^ said:
I'm just not
sure that insurance
would be 'worth it' for me -
it just seems so outrageously expensive!
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I've had good experiences.
Especially if you handle it right...

I'll die if it's terminal.
I'm poor.
Public hospital's
give you enuff drug's to play chill if you bug the nurses's
regular'ly', an' "scream" in pain if yo' jus' need a se:date.
If it's slow & terminal I take care of it myself.
So the 'system' may be fucked-
but the system still
kept me in fo' supervision
when I was probably ready fo' release...
by a day..
...an' follow'd up...
..props fir the peep's that EVER have to a'Ward me...

...I'll wake'a bunch o' geriatrics if I need some hydro
& you're playin' pana doll's.

Jees that sounded harsh.

But,
I know my thresh-hol',
YOU (hypothetically) know my problem,
an' so if I ax fo' somethin',
I'm in pain,
an' your fear of prescribin' them
(spec. whilst I'm on ward)
is unfounded.

Everybody wins...
Well, I got a formula...
:)
 
at least the poster above me doesn't need to waste his money on insurance regarding the state of his mental health

everything appears to be a-ok
 
+ + + = A Wife That Looked Tha Wrong Way

Bro,
I'll make a mill before
the snap of tha till.

An' I hol' myself down,
jus' by tippin' my crown.

Don't frown.

We could be friends...;)
 
I have to have nasal surgery in a few months, and our private health cover has just saved us about $4000. I'm absolutely stoked. That's including an overnight stay in a private hospital, my ENT surgeon & anaesthetist.

As an aside, with MBF, you can opt to choose a "No Gap Specialist". They're doctors, dentists, etc, that don't charge over the MBS. :) I daresay there would be quite a waiting list, but i think it would be worth it.
 
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP-Pee-Pee-Be-Esse`

preacha said:
at least the poster above me doesn't need to waste his money on insurance regarding the state of his mental health

everything appears to be a-ok
Click to expand...

You pay fucker.=D
=D <-G(r)in Of You Eatin' Shit.
 
i've recently turned 21 and my old lady has kept me on her cover - will cost her about 30 sumthin a fortnight i think (which i will give her).
not sure if that's worth it but i'm gonna look into my own cover anyway, i'm accident prone and always have been, nevermind my bung knees and ankles from years of abuse during my skateboarding and aussie rules days.

as for ambulance cover, it's absolutely worth it. a few years back i cut myself rather badly on my wrist being a stupid kid, anyways my mate and i skated to the ambulance depot to see if they could help me, they patched me up and then tried to take me to the RBH (brisbane public), i kicked and screamed cause i knew ambo rides are expensive, but they told me they had a duty of care. Either way they took me from roma st to the rbh when i could have caught a bus or called mum/dad for advice on where to go (the lift cost me $660 8o)... 5 hours of waiting at the hospital i got fed up and did that, mum came and got me, we went to the private hospital and i was in and out in five minutes.

i know i'm either getting my own or continuing to pay mum what she pays for me...

-=DLouD247=D-
 
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