Thread: Health Insurance - filter through the b*shit

Gday SM ..

****
in short, i need health insurance ... i tried reading through all the b*shit, but really i don't know what is what ..
im only after extras ...

a lady at my work, suggested the following - Private Health Insurance by StLukes Health - Master Page
im looking to benefit from:
physio / chiro / dental (major/minor)

keeping in mind, im 22 .. full time student and full time employee (on intern rates), id like something around 30-40 a month.

any help would be much appreciated, and im sure others members of SM would find this useful!

thanks guys

My wife works for a health insurance company - I will ask her to respond tonight as they have a brand new package coming out that is something like $35 per month and has some really good benefits.

She works in customer care (not sales) but she knows about the products.

health insurance is waste of money.... especially at your age....

Thanks Clown, I'd be interested in hearing about this new package also :)

Her recommendation is actually to go with HBA Your Extra's package.

You get to choose your own 4 categories of extras so you don't pay for what you don't want.

She needs to know your state to quote prices but you can find them on HBA.

Using QLD - we got this - HBA - Your Choice Extras

$5 per week for singles. (5.25 after April 1)

Do you need hospital AND extras so you don't get stung for with the Medicare Surcharge Levy? Or just one or the other?

Originally Posted by Gav

Do you need hospital AND extras so you don't get stung for with the Medicare Surcharge Levy? Or just one or the other?

Yes. And Hospital is the expensive one.

No - to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge, you only need hospital cover.

If you are only getting private health insurance (hospital cover) to avoid the surcharge, calculate your savings to see if it is worth it. For example, if you are single and earn $70,000 pa, without hospital cover you will pay a 1% surcharge ($700). To avoid the surcharge, you have to have private hospital cover for the entire financial year. So as long as your hospital cover costs you less than $700 pa. you will come out ahead (also keeping in mind the government contributes 30% towards hospital cover too).

But if you want the piece of mind should anything happen to you, then having the health insurance is a good thing. For our family, we've gotten far far more out of our hospital cover than what it has cost us, even extras, considering my dental and optical, I know I have gotten my moneys worth.

Keep in mind insurance companies are there to make money off you not to save you money so your better off paying for extras out right.....

Correct me if i'm wrong here

Private health insurers are a bit different to other insurance companies. They have to apply to the government to increase their fees & the increases are based on projected costs. They can't just increase fees in order to make greater profits. I'm not sure of the corporate structure or how profits are distributed, but I expect it to be fairly tightly regulated.

Thank-you for the detailed expanation MandyM.

Tranq, I have a mate that just received the annual rise in the cost of his private health insurance (hospital and extras). Up 10% and a quite a few of the extra's he's normally entitled to have been cut. His theory is behind this is that the insurance companies know it still works out cheaper for him (and many others like him) to be insured than to pay the 1% Medicare Surcharge Levy.

Originally Posted by mandym

No - to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge, you only need hospital cover.

If you are only getting private health insurance (hospital cover) to avoid the surcharge, calculate your savings to see if it is worth it. For example, if you are single and earn $70,000 pa, without hospital cover you will pay a 1% surcharge ($700). To avoid the surcharge, you have to have private hospital cover for the entire financial year. So as long as your hospital cover costs you less than $700 pa. you will come out ahead (also keeping in mind the government contributes 30% towards hospital cover too).

That describes the general rule for ppl above the MLS income thresholds, but the MLS isn't really pertinent to this discussion as this person is presumably on a single income:

Originally Posted by crreaby

Gday SM ..

keeping in mind, im 22 .. full time student and full time employee (on intern rates), id like something around 30-40 a month.

thanks guys

so if he doesn't have hospital cover, he won't pay the MLS if he doesn't earn enough income to begin with

Sigillus, the MLS isn't a concearn to me ..
But as i live a very active lifestyle ... gym/footy/cricket ... i am prone to injuries ... ie. 2 dislocated shoulders in the 2009 footy season, which now leaves me on the public waiting list to get "reconstructive surgery"
plus, having benefits like dental is a bonus!

I'de recommend comparing a few different funds. There are a few different places you can do that including Health Insurance - Compare Private Health Insurance & Save

With the prices increases coming into effect April 1 there are a few special offers around that lock in prices or offer a free month.

Almost all the comparison sites offer the ability to get quotes on varying level of cover for physio / chiro / dental so you can go and play gym/footy/cricket without having to wait months on the public waiting list.

Originally Posted by crreaby

... i live a very active lifestyle ... gym/footy/cricket ... i am prone to injuries ... on the public waiting list to get "reconstructive surgery"

i would suggest you be cautious of the 'fit and healthy' plans as they will often leave you big gaps even though the surgery you get is 'covered', also be aware that smaller insurers like St Lukes often have less extensive gap cover arrangements with hospitals and doctors across australia, this can lead to the situation where you may be forced to go to a hospital which is really far away from home in order to get the best gap cover possible. This probably won't be a huge concern if you based in Tasmania.