Private health insurance for a young person?

[geoffw]

My daughter, who is 24 and returned from several years overseas, is asking about private health insurance. She hasn't been covered under our private insurance insurance since she turned 21.

She dislocated her shoulder while overseas, and will need surgery. Private insurance will cover after 12 months.

She needs dental work and orthodontics. Extras insurance will cover just a portion.

At one stage it was the case that public patients could get completely free treatment in a hospital, but private patients had to pay. Is that still the case? Is it worth while having private insurance at all?

She is at home at the moment and not working. She's not on Centrelink payments. Private insurance with extras would cost just under $100 pm.

 

[evisional]

I would go to Medibank Private.

 

[geoffw]

I would go to Medibank Private.

Any reasons? Why have private insurance? Why them?

I really don't have any answers or advice for her and she's quite confused.

 

[luckyone]

Frankly I've found private health insurance to be a bit of a waste of money. Hubby and I only have it because he had back problems and we can't take the risk of not having it in case his back ever plays up again.

I've used it only a couple of times (only have hospital cover) and I ended up paying around $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for the operation. I had the same operation the year before through Medicare, and paid absolutely nothing! The only good thing about private insurance is that if something does go terribly wrong, there's usually no (or a very small) waiting list, whereas in public you could wait a long time to have the same surgery.

If she's going to get it, have a look at NIB's Young People's cover. It used to be very good, not sure if it still is though. It covers both hospital and some of the most common extras.

 

[EN710]

I have NIB (I'm 25, so age wise not so far off)

It was one of the cheapest health insurance around, and as I have been with them for 2 years, the premium if moving to a different providers are higher, e.g. $90 vs. $110 per month.

This is after the 30% rebate, plus 4% discount for direct debit as well. Probably need to check again this year as NIB his going to have the highest premium increase in April.

So have have not got much issues with claim for Extras as long I go with their listed providers. Have not got any serious claims though...

Their website is a lot better now where you can customise the level of extras you want to have.

Dislike? My acupuncturist/ shiatsu person is only listed for Shiatsu in their database, so when my receipt said "acupuncture" I can't claim

To add:
If your daughter earn on the next income bracket $84K+ (double check, I don't remember this very well), she need to pay 1.25% surcharge if she doesn't have a health insurance. This is more or less the cost of your insurance, so might as well have one.

 

[Ideo]

I have NIB (I'm 25, so age wise not so far off)

It was one of the cheapest health insurance around, and as I have been with them for 2 years, the premium if moving to a different providers are higher, e.g. $90 vs. $110 per month.

This is after the 30% rebate, plus 4% discount for direct debit as well. Probably need to check again this year as NIB his going to have the highest premium increase in April.

So have have not got much issues with claim for Extras as long I go with their listed providers. Have not got any serious claims though...

Their website is a lot better now where you can customise the level of extras you want to have.

Dislike? My acupuncturist/ shiatsu person is only listed for Shiatsu in their database, so when my receipt said "acupuncture" I can't claim

To add:
If your daughter earn on the next income bracket $84K+ (double check, I don't remember this very well), she need to pay 1.25% surcharge if she doesn't have a health insurance. This is more or less the cost of your insurance, so might as well have one.

That last point is the only reason I have it.

I'm with that NIB young person policy as well.

 

[cimbom]

Orthodontics cover is generally pretty useless. The amount of cover goes up by several hundreds of dollars per year of keeping the insurance. You need to have it for about 5 years in most cases to get a good refund amount (in the '000s) and even then, you will be lucky if it covers 30-50% of the costs. I've heard that some orthodontists have payment plans so maybe that could be an option you could look into.

It would have been useful for her shoulder surgery though. The main benefit with private cover is that you don't have to wait and you can choose your own doctor.

Maybe ask her doctor how long people have to wait to have the surgery in the public system and compare if it's worth having cover for that.

 

[S.T]

Yeh NIB here too. They have some pretty handy features, $400 health lifestyle benefit that I used on a yearly gym membership. I think major dental is now around $1200 and general dental check up's are not under any cap.

 

[Edmond Dantes]

Go to iselect.com.au and get a consultant to call you.

 

[robbiejuve]

Everyone is different I suppose but according to my maths, I come out on top with private health without having an accident. Tiny tax benfit + 2 x dental visits a year + monthly chiro. I'm still very active in contact sports and commute to work on a bicycle or motorbike so I'm more likely to need hospital cover than a couch potato I guess.

Wouldn't travel insurance cover her shoulder?

 

[Angel]

Orthodontics - you have to be paying in for a year before they will pay you, and then they only pay a tiny amount anyway. Not usually worth it. Like $600 a year with a $1000 lifetime limit. It isn't worth it when the bill is likely to be about $4000. O and for orthodontics, you have to have a higher level of cover than just basic. Therefore in three years she might have to spend a few thousand dollars on Extras premiums just to get back $1000.

Surgery in a private hospital - for a pre-existing condition, you have to be covered for at least a year before they will pay. If it is less than a year's wait in the public system, she can save her money and go public. Often though the wait is longer than a year.

I'd be looking into her travel insurance too.

 

[weg]

Orthodontics - you have to be paying in for a year before they will pay you, and then they only pay a tiny amount anyway. Not usually worth it. Like $600 a year with a $1000 lifetime limit. It isn't worth it when the bill is likely to be about $4000. O and for orthodontics, you have to have a higher level of cover than just basic. Therefore in three years she might have to spend a few thousand dollars on Extras premiums just to get back $1000.

Surgery in a private hospital - for a pre-existing condition, you have to be covered for at least a year before they will pay. If it is less than a year's wait in the public system, she can save her money and go public. Often though the wait is longer than a year.

I'd be looking into her travel insurance too.

Agree, major dental and orthodontic don't pay that well. Extras is good mostly for general dentistry and physio but only if you know you'll make use of those services.

If she's otherwise very healthy do the sums.

How many days in hospital for the shoulder surgery?

Daughter could still have shoulder surgery but pay for the hospital bed while Medicare covers the rest - will still have a small gap but will have this anyway with private insurance too.

Check how long the waiting list is for that specific surgery as well (go online and check the different hospital waiting times) as it may not be as long as she thinks.

 

[Tony3008]

Agree, major dental and orthodontic don't pay that well. Extras is good mostly for general dentistry and physio but only if you know you'll make use of those services.

When I moved here from UK I signed up for Medibank with all the extras which has (IIRC) a $2000 annual limit for dental work. But when I had to have a difficult extraction under GA it didn't help much - the anaesthetist recommended by the surgeon charged $400. Medibank said that the scale rate was $200 and as the Medicare rebate was $150, they would pay me $50, leaving me to pay $200. Similar for the surgeon's fee. I'd be tempted to cancel and self-insure but it seems like tempting fate, even though I've gone past 60 without a single night in hospital. But they will pay $150 a time for the 20 minute twice-yearly clean and scale and funnily enough this is what it costs - I wonder why?

 

[lizzie]

We pay second from top cover and - at our age - are not game to drop out. Also have to remember that your health insurance also covers ambulance costs if required.

We're with Australian Unity who seemed to give the best cover for cost. We rarely use it nowadays - except for juniors $600 of glasses last year ...

... however ... hubby (over 50) had a dodgy bowel cancer test come back a few years back. The doc referred him to a specialist, but unknown to us, as public rather than private. After waiting a month to be advised of an appointment date we received a letter saying that his appointment would be in 14 months time!

WTF - needless to say we rang the doc immediately and got a referral to a private specialised and hubby got sorted the following week ... if it "was" cancerous, one could be dead in 14 months!

Also, two out of junior three older sisters needed major orthodontic work which was around 70% covered by private insurance ... not sure how junior's teeth will work out once all through, but there's not much room left.

I know it's expensive - but after seeing people wait years for "non urgent" hip/knee replacements - or serious dental work - or varicose vein surgery - or sporting injuries ... although sometimes it seems a waste of money, I wouldn't be without

 

[see_change]

Big advantage is quick access to hospital treatment for non urgent conditions . And you can chose your Doctor .

Biggest problem is that the General Public don't always know who the good Doctors are ....and a recommendation off a friend because " they did a good job on me " isn't worth much.

Most specialists do a good job on most people . It's only when things go wrong , you find out how good that specialist is

Some private hospitals / specialist will have arrangements where the insurance covers everything , but that info isn't always readily available.

Cliff

 

[spanna]

Move your cover over to BUPA, there limit for children is 25, this will cover her for a few more years. If you don?t want to do that consult with who your with I know I didn?t have any waiting periods when I came off my folks cover