Health Insurance

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foo on patrol
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Health Insurance

Postby foo on patrol » Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:30 pm

Ok people, tell me who you are insured with and are you happy with them. I'm looking at Medibank, NIB, Bupa and HCF. :?

This will be for a family and include hospital and dental but no births or ivf stuff. :wink:

Foo
I don't suffer fools easily and so long as you have done your best,you should have no regrets.
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MarkG
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Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Health Insurance

Postby MarkG » Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:11 pm

Was with HBF for 17 years and switch last year to NIB.
Similar priced but better benefits.
Last edited by MarkG on Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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R12RT
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Location: Ballajura, Western Australia

Re: Health Insurance

Postby R12RT » Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:16 pm

Been with GMHBA for some years now.

Happy with them. Reasonably priced and good service.
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Summernight
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby Summernight » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:01 pm

Australian Unity
My family were with them although that wasn't the reason I chose them but it was a factor - they were the cheapest through iSelect that fit my choices. (Didn't choose dental as I get free dental anyway at the moment)

I'm not sure if I'll ever use the health insurance perks properly until or if I have children, which was the main reason I signed up.

Extra bonus was my profession's organisational body has a deal with AustUnity so I get an extra discount per month. :D

Crittski
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby Crittski » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:37 pm

Just dont buy cover that has cardiac exclusions, and make sure you buy a policy from a fund that allows private hospitals to confirm your level of cover after hours...
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queequeg
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby queequeg » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:56 pm

debating whether to keep the private insurance. after the increases this April it will be costing almost $4000p/a, and that is with the 30% discount. Life/income protection is cheaper, but the two combined is about $550 per month.
I am thinking of self insuring. The life insurance comes with trauma coverage for thing like cardiac (or getting knocked off a bicycle!). Considering that private insurance does not mean "no bills", you really have to know what you're up for.

For our two kids we were out of pocket by about $7000 even though we had full private cover. when insurers talk about "no gap" coverage, they mean the Medicare gap, not the difference between what the surgeon charged and what the Medicare schedule fee is.
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dynamictiger
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Location: Victoria Park, WA

Re: Health Insurance

Postby dynamictiger » Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:50 am

When the howard government decided anyone over 30 would be penalised for not having private health insurance etc unless you joined by x date. I was already over 30. However my income was such and potential income in the forseeable future likely to be not enough to worry about it or indeed afford it.

Situations change and you would think I would regret this decision. I don't.

I have chosen to take an extras policy with Medibank to cover glasses, dentists and so on. This has been brilliant value to us and well worth the premium as every year we recieve at least as much benefit as the cost and for the last few years have received significantly more as I broke my hand and used my cover for physio recovery rather than public and my wife has had perondontis treatments at about $1700 a year.

For a variety of reasons we have had to interface with several health issues with the public system, and whilst it is not perfect by a long way over the years we have found it more than adequate for our needs. The exception to this was the physio treatment I received at the public hospital was to be frank shocking and I simply opted out of the system to get around this problem.

If I had my time again, I would seriously consider whether I need health insurance or not. Elective operations apparently take a while. However our experience has been if we need something they provide it and usually without much fuss. So think very hard indeed.
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barefoot
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby barefoot » Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:59 am

queequeg wrote:when insurers talk about "no gap" coverage, they mean the Medicare gap, not the difference between what the surgeon charged and what the Medicare schedule fee is.
This is very true.

It took us a bit by surprise as well.

In the real world, there are two gaps. There's the medicare fee, there's the insurance limit, and then there's the actual cost.

When my daughter needed surgery, the surgeon's secretary sat us down to talk about fees and payment.
"Oh, that's okay, we've got full insurance", we said.
She rolled her eyes and smirked knowingly, pulling out her list of prices with the insurance "component" listed alongside. Obvious n00b error.

So, with private cover, you get your choice of surgeon (as if you know enough surgeons to make an informed choice anyway)... which means, I guess, you get to choose how much you want to pay over and above the insurance payout.

That aside... for the sake of the original question, we're with HBA (who I think are called Bupa now), and will be with them forever. We were already on their books before we had our disabled daughter, so they're not allowed to dump us... and nobody else would touch us with a barge pole now, because we'll cost them a lot more than we ever pay them. So, no idea whether HBA are good, bad or otherwise. They just are. We're on a no-gap plan, which is really good for frequent fliers like us - paying the medicare gap for every hospital visit was a bit of a drain :-/

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foo on patrol
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby foo on patrol » Wed Feb 27, 2013 12:15 pm

Thanks all for the input so far, it looks like HCF has the lead so far, with my talk with them yesterday. The also have the least gap in the payouts.

Foo
I don't suffer fools easily and so long as you have done your best,you should have no regrets.
Goal 6000km

jcjordan
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby jcjordan » Wed Feb 27, 2013 2:36 pm

Private health insurance is a complete was of money in Australia. I have to have met anyone who would not have been out of pocket in terms of final cost for any majority ailment or surgery when comparing against what you get from Medicare
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gettingfit
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby gettingfit » Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:22 pm

foo on patrol wrote:Thanks all for the input so far, it looks like HCF has the lead so far, with my talk with them yesterday. The also have the least gap in the payouts.

Foo

Strange you say that. We are with HCF, not overly happy with the amounts we get back (and the things that aren't covered with our extras cover), and nearly all medical professionals we deal with also tend to tell us HCF don't pay much in comparison to the others.

Having said that, we did work out if we pay $8 week more we can up our extras to the best and get a shipload more included and $ back than we are on the level we are on. So I would recommend not going any less than their best extras cover.

As for the hospital I recently made use of that and didn't pay a cent (actually, there is a $250 excess and the initial specialists consultation wasn't covered of $70), but I guess $320 or so all up to have triple hernia surgery is a pretty good deal in a private hospital. That said, he was a 'no gap' surgeon and also used a no gap anaeth...aneath....the guy who puts you to sleep etc. :roll:

dynamictiger
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Location: Victoria Park, WA

Re: Health Insurance

Postby dynamictiger » Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:32 pm

gettingfit wrote: and also used a no gap anaeth...aneath....the guy who puts you to sleep etc. :roll:
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cyclotaur
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby cyclotaur » Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:51 pm

Never had private health insurance - 35 years, 3 kids, 2 knee recos, 1 arthroscopy, 3 x orthodontic work, a few minor day surgeries etc etc and we are way ahead at the rate of $4k (current $$) pa quoted by someone above.

Self-insure and save/invest the money elsewhere. We have built equity in other investments we wouldn't have if we'd forked out for private health insurance all those years. Go truly private if you need something done, the specialists love you and you get a completely different quote (less) when they know you are self-insuring. Use Medicare and the tax rebate system.

I had blood tests this morning and a CT scan this arvo and my GP wrote 'bulk bill' on the referrals 'cos he knows I self-insure and they did. So called 'health' insurance is a scam. Don't play the game - it only leads to further privatisation of the health system along the lines of the good ol' US of A, and is a big taxpayer-ripoff the health funds survive on.

Well, that's my opinion .... :oops:
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foo on patrol
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Re: Health Insurance

Postby foo on patrol » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:41 am

Ended up going Australian Unity. 10% Dlscount because we were RACQ members = $260 a month. :)

Foo
I don't suffer fools easily and so long as you have done your best,you should have no regrets.
Goal 6000km

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