Health cover

Having to pay the whole cost of having my wisdom teeth out next week has made me realise I *really* need some kind of health cover... what are the options out there? who are you with? what does it cover? how much?

My wife handles that, I just pay the bill.

Came in handy 2 weeks ago when Cooper had to take the ambulance to hospital when he choked. That $649.00 Ambulance bill alone has made last years private health insurance almost worth it.

well, currently (cause i am a student n under 25) i am covered by my parents insurance with Government Employees Health Fund. I have been with them for years anyway, they provide AWESOME dental cover as well as optical. since i have a history of crappy teeth issues, it seemed right to stick with them. they also havethe generic cover for natural therapies also, if u are that way inclined.

i like them, dealing with them when i had my own insurance policy was always a positive experience. LINKAGE to GEHF

i guess what u need to do is find something that suits ur lifestyle, n price range! i have basic auxillary with GEHF... its not much cover, but i dont get sick often n it covers my one health-topic.. dental!

I thought ya needed seperate ambo insurance...
Both things that have been put in the too hard basket at the moment,

most health cover usually covers emergency ambulances only, there's a small gap of around $13 for seperate non-emergency ambulance cover direct from St John.

So what you're saying is with normal cover I cant call an ambo when I need a ride to the pub?

I vaugley remember the missus mentioning some whiz bang cover for defence force employees etc, sposedly we can get it.. has anyone got it, do i need a gun?

u should already be in it woj, if u are in the defence force!! i thought they covered u automatically. u guys get so much free stuff from the base chemist, not fair!

Nah not in the defence force, not that daft especially with what is going on, but i hear the men are top shelf in the navy.
This is all 2nd hand from the missus, but employees (and family) of her work (BAE) can sign up to the defence private health to cover them. The only one I checked out was Mutual Community about a year ago... really gotta get this sorted.

it might be similar to my cover then.. hmm i will check!

edit: no excuses now!
Defence Health

This post has been edited by trashy_chica on Jan 12 2005, 08:42 PM

I have Medibank Private with Extras cover for me and my kids (it is about to go up yet again - almost 100% increase in 3 years) I pay about $200 a month - but it has saved me a fortune with three years dental cover usually only pay about half the cost, my son had a heart op a year or so ago - all the private room and stuff barely cost anything.

Is it worth it? Probably, but it does piss you off because they increase the amount at least once or twice a year - until you wonder whether it is worth the ongoing cost.

I'm with Defence Health. They are fuckin fantastic. And it's only $50 a month for me cause I'm still covered under my mum's account.

I haven't paid a cent for contact lenses or glasses in 5 years. Had an athroscopy (knee operation) 4 years ago, gap was $250 for day surgery under GA.

As far as I am aware though, to be eligible, a family member needs to be, or been in the defence force.

I'm with Medibank Private also, just for me, highest possible singles cover tho (coz i could need an eye operation at any time - had about 10-12 i think in my life so far, get new glasses every year too), paying $95.55 a month IIRC.

Picked up the new glasses just yesterday (ordered before xmas under 2004's cover) - pure titanium (strongest available, aparently) with double bi-focal lenses, and the gap was only $60.

wasnt there some age limit introduced whereby if you didnt join up by a certain age your premiums went up for life?

i just turned 24 and i have no health cover whatsover so this could be worth looking into, especially since something tells me the age cut-off might have been 24/25

QUOTE (Lasermad @ Jan 13 2005, 03:50 PM)

wasnt there some age limit introduced whereby if you didnt join up by a certain age your premiums went up for life? i just turned 24 and i have no health cover whatsover so this could be worth looking into, especially since something tells me the age cut-off might have been 24/25

That was for the 30% Private Heatlh Insurance rebate.

If you don't join up by a certain age (i *think* it maybe 25) then you won't get the 30%, but it's a furfy really, coz they just keep going up across the board anyway!

Still the 30% is an incentive, get on it - otherwise you'll have to pay 30% more.

*bump* for sigo

Didn't see this before, but Muffo, you'll need to have health insurance for over a year before you can use it for wisdom teeth (I think) because it's not an injury and it's a 'pre-existing condition' or something like that. That's why I didn't get mine out yet because I didn't have cover for it. Even if I went up to dental cover I'd have to wait a year or more.

I'm with Mutual Community Singles Cover, the lowest one, about $155 for 3 months I think. I also get the National Pharmacies membership in that, which gives me 20% off at Nat Pharm - which I think is pretty good (off most scripts, all their stock...)

thats not completely true cammy, it depends who u are with. I am with Advanced Health Management, 3 months is fine for dental work...

Defence health is available to Defence personnel and their families and also available to defence contracting companies like mine (BAE) Still kinda steep for a couple and the waiting periods are ghey coz i need my wisdoms out..btw how much is it costing you to have yours out muffo?

they age limit is 30 for private health cover before they start charging you extra. I think it is an extra 2% for each year over 30 with most covers

QUOTE (wojtek @ Jan 12 2005, 08:31 PM)

The only one I checked out was Mutual Community about a year ago... really gotta get this sorted.

yeah im with Mutual Community also, i liked the name from Monopoly days

currently i pay $259 for three months cover , if i get his by a bus it better be good so i can milk my cover for all its worth

my step one ancillary cover (get ambulance cover etc, just not any fancy naturpathy haha) is $55 a month.. not bad! still makes a dent into my student budget haha.

My provider is CBHS and for absolute top cover (hospital, dental, naturopathy, etc etc) is $40 a fortnight.

When I joined, they waived ALL wiating periods and the benefits are really good!

you know what shits me, i went to the doctor one time in the last 12 months and i get slugged $40.15 when i go there, plus over $600 in medicare levy come tax time

so it costs me $650 to go to the doctor once a year and no doubt my $600 'levy' is paying for some junkie's methodone program...

Health Partners - Select Extras for me $22 per month!!!!

Covers: Chiro, dental, Physio, naturopath, accupunture, orthodontics, ambulance and most other specialists.

No hospital cover at this stage.

PLUS DISCOUNTS: $8.50 movie tickets anytime, 20% off all Chemist purchases (selected Chemists) and a list of discounts throughout Adelaide that is longer than both my legs.

2 month waiting period on all services.

perfect cover for me. ALWAYS SHOP AROUND.

QUOTE (jjcoolaus @ Jan 13 2005, 02:57 PM)

QUOTE (Lasermad @ Jan 13 2005, 03:50 PM) wasnt there some age limit introduced whereby if you didnt join up by a certain age your premiums went up for life? i just turned 24 and i have no health cover whatsover so this could be worth looking into,  especially since something tells me the age cut-off might have been 24/25 That was for the 30% Private Heatlh Insurance rebate. If you don't join up by a certain age (i *think* it maybe 25) then you won't get the 30%, but it's a furfy really, coz they just keep going up across the board anyway! Still the 30% is an incentive, get on it - otherwise you'll have to pay 30% more.

The thing is that if you've not had hospital cover by the time you're 30, you're premium goes up exponententially in accordance with your age each year over 30.

For specifics, enquire qith your provider