Health Insurance

[semele]

Do you have health insurance? With whom and are you happy?

I think with having 5 broken arms by the time I was 11 and then the many many dislocated knees ( :roll: ), I would probably be a good candidate. I have to think about getting it now that I am longer covered under my parents insurance (I'm now a part-time student rather than full-time).

I'm looking for a fairly budget type that gets me the through with the bare minimum.

[MissieK]

We can't afford it :(

Melissa

[Pam]

We've never bothered, we just find the money if we need it. Not saying that's the ideal way to go.. just what suits us :)

[Patricia]

We don't have it either, I have a great specialist (even though he is almost 3 hours away) who encourages me to call him any time of the day or night on his mobile if I need to. I think this kind of commitment is pretty rare these days...this was the doctor that diagnosed me many years ago so its nice that he makes me feel like he really cares even though I am a public patient.

Patricia :)

[PinkDot]

I have Health Partners Extras. Basically I pay around $20 a month. It doesnt cover me for medical, but I have never needed it so would probably be cheaper for me to take the risk ;) (touch wood)
It covers full ambulance cover and a heap of dental. It also has a few other extras that I probably won't ever use (accupuncture, chiropractor etc). I have definately got my moneys worth with the dental. I got my wisdon teeth out which was the main reason I signed up and it saved me about 40%
I also go to the dentist pretty regularly because of the fund. And I get a discount at certain pharmacies too :)

[Michelle]

There's no way we'd be able to afford it! And besides, we're happy without it...i don't seem to be able to justify spending all that money on something you can get thru medicare just as good!

[ritzmoon]

We used to have private insurance but it got way to expensive for us.

I just now pay to cover ambulance and dental and extras which suits us.

[Naomi]

Despite what the media tells us, the public system is really good in Australia (and I'm not just saying that because I have to).

We have a fairly basic level of insurance, mainly for ambulance (which is worth having) and also for tax reasons. But if I needed to go to hospital for anything, I would go as a public patient. We had Hugo through the public system and it was great.

We don't have any chronic conditions though so maybe you want it so you can choose an orthopaedic specialist? In which case, there is a website that compares different funds and levels of cover, I can't remember what it is off the top of my head but I'll try to find it.

Edited to add: Ok - it's www.iselect.com.au

[MissieK]

We used to have private insurance but it got way to expensive for us.

I just now pay to cover ambulance and dental and extras which suits us.

Who do you use for dental?

Melissa

[Leigh]

We don't but would like to for dental and tax reasons. And maybe ambulance, Jake could get frequent rider discount LOL

I haven't had too many problems with the public system. I had all 3 of my kids public, and had no problems. We did have a bit of a wait for Hayden's operation, but over all it was very good too.
I think overall we are fairly lucky with our health system, sure there are some problems, and it is sad when you hear of people in real need being over looked. But I would rather be here, with our Health system, than most other countries.

[semele]

Thanks for everybody's input!

I don't think I would be able to afford hospital AND extras so I may just get the extras which means I am covered dental, optical and more importantly, physio.

There is a group called GMHBA which looks promising (and cheapish) and then I can just pay a $25 a year fee for ambulance cover.