Thread: Health insurance...aarrrggghhhhh

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Thats because you probably dont need to know them - but when you want the best..... they wont be a bulk biller.

I have health insurance to protect myself from my mother.

Health insurance's only advantage as far as I can see is that you will be able to get elective surgery quicker than in the public system, sometimes a lot quicker - and make massive copayments you were not expecting, and which you would not have as a public patient.

My wife spent a month in hospital and was assessed for a lung transplant - no cost for either public or insured patient, and exactly the same doctors and accommodation.

If you live anywhere outside a capital city it is unlikely that the doctor or accommodation will be any different whether you are a private or public patient. The only difference will be whether you make additional payments or not.

My experience with two operations as a private patient is that the extra payments not covered by the insurance were more than ten years of insurance payments - and there was in practice no choice of doctors. But in one case the wait for the operation (for cancer) was reduced from perhaps a week to one day.

John

G'Day All : ))
The viscious circle of available money driving up charges driving up available money. Love the free market!
Rule 1: Choose an insurer that is not publicly listed, i.e the subscriber is the shareholder.
Our provider is such, and we constantly get comments whenb we process HICAPS as to how much is covered. For a family of 6 we rarely pay out more than we use p/a.
Hope this helps.
Dave.

All I can say is ring around and twist people's arms. Just saved $400 per year with increased benefit limits after a couple of hours on-line and ringing around. If you are moving across from another provider insist on having ALL the new provider's waiting periods waived.

MBF tried to tell me that only some of my waiting periods would be waived if I moved away from them. They said that I would have to serve the waiting period for any increased benefit limits. For example, current major dental limit with MBF $200, limit with new provider $600. MBF said I would have to serve the 12 month waiting limit to get the extra $400 from them (if I upgraded my policy) or my new provider. WRONG. My new provider said that regardless if their benefit limit was higher, since I already served a 12 month waiting period with MBF even for a lower benefit amount, the fact that it was on my policy at all meant that they would honour that regardless.

The new provider said it was a line they used to scare people from switching away.

So I now have greatly increased cover over a slightly smaller range of services which I actually may use, for $400 per year less!

Shop around people.

I have one idea why private health insurance seems to cost more than other types of insurance.

With your car, you say you pay roughly $350 per year for a 20K car.

But they would have used key risk factors to determine that premium. So you might be a getting a 60% no claim discount, live in a relatively risk free suburb in terms of theft and be over 25 years old.

But with private health insurance, they don't ask for risk factors like this. For example, I could play amateur rugby or ski and need all kinds of surgery for knee/shoulder reconstructions, smoke, drink excessively, but this wouldn't affect my private health insurance hospital cover premiums (I don't think, anyway).

So it appears to the healthy/lucky people that don't need to make (m)any claims on their private health insurance that it is indeed expensive.

And I agree - it is very expensive (as of 1 April, we'll be paying $162.80 for hospital cover with $500 excess and $119.90 for extras) - $282.70 per month...this is with the 30% rebate. About $3400 per year...which leads me to my next point - this is the price for me and my wife and we've just had our first child...the premium doesn't change.

So if you have kids, then there might be additional benefit.

Pete

Perhaps this is a case where the free market would be better.
Let the health funds charge what they like and let the punters decide if it's too much!

Ralph

Originally Posted by Pavo

But with private health insurance, they don't ask for risk factors like this. For example, I could play amateur rugby or ski and need all kinds of surgery for knee/shoulder reconstructions, smoke, drink excessively, but this wouldn't affect my private health insurance hospital cover premiums (I don't think, anyway).

So it appears to the healthy/lucky people that don't need to make (m)any claims on their private health insurance that it is indeed expensive.

This is important to remember with private health care - normally information asymmetry exists in markets (i.e. somebody knows more than somebody else) - this, however, is nearly always an advantage for the producer of the good/service (e.g. purchasing a car, or any manufacture really, signing a contract, etc.). However, with insurance (whether car or health) the consumer has more knowledge than the insurance company - therefore rates have to increase to compensate for this uncertainty (factored into the base price).

As to the relative worth of private health care - I have studied economics for the last few years, and discussed the issue with my girlfriend's father (a cardiology surgeon) and still have no bloody idea.

I had my gallbladder taken out at the ripe old age of 19, (reasonably fit male??) and went through the public system - spent 3 days in the emergency ward for about 6 hours each day in pain (over a few weeks), got some attention, all taken care of within a week or so...

There does seem to be a lack of transparency re. private health care...

We pulled out of private insurance a few years ago, at the time we were paying for top cover $150 a month. Now my son is 15 and is an accident waiting to happen, in his short life he has broken both arms twice plus one had to be reset, he had a strangulated testicle, he had his appendix removed and put back, yes thats right they put them back. He also broke his collar bone and now has a titanium plate to support it. Each operation cost use $500 out of our own pocket. Thank christ he doesn't play sport.

My daughter had a severe ear infection and need 8 operations over 5 years the first 5 cost us $500 each the next one was $750 and the next 2 cost us nothing because we had pulled out by then, same doctor,same hospital.

As it is now we are paying off a small mortgage, add on rates, insurance and maintenance costs and we couldn't afford to pay for private health cover even if we wanted to, and most people are in the same boat.

The worst part is the reason most people join a health fund is for the dental cover and you can't claim stuff all.