Health & Family Thinking of dropping Health Insurance

I wonder how one qualifies for this award

I have 'insider' access and knowledge of both systems. Despite this, I still have private insurance for myself and my family, and would choose to use it depending on the precise circumstances.

So far, and I hope this is all:

Wife - melanomaS (not a typo) - private dermatologist, private surgeon. Were this anything but an early stage, I would possibly divert to the public melanoma unit.

Son - Minor ENT problem - private surgeon, private anaesthetist. Possible MAJOR illness shortly thereafter --> public emergency, with a phone call en route to the private surgeon to ensure there was no link.

Mother - neurology - private neurologist, private spinal surgeon (procedure not done at all in public).

Daughter - trauma. Public.

 

He qualifies for the very best specialist award, cos I worked out that there were at least 5 people who said he was the best.

There were nurses, 2 interns but they could be biased, the 1 orderly but perhaps I should not count him. Now, I know absolutely zip about this particular procedure so I reckon 5 out of 10 will do BTW, he was bloody brilliant because my daughter said so and she was the one that went under the knife

Someone slap me, back to being serious

You certainly have it sorted and have contacts good for you, playing both sides with a safety net in place if needed.

I guess I'll just keep doing what I am doing.

MTR

 

Dropped my health insurance today.

I've used it once since I've had it, and that was for pre-holiday vaccinations for which they paid a tiny amount. Pointless.

 

@Darlinghurst Boy: your description brings back memories. My mother was able to get out of Gosford Public and into Woy Woy Private and it was quite a relief. Mum also caught her cancer too late. But I got to stay at that hospital for the last month. Difficult to do but at least it was an ok place. Whenever I think of giving up the monthly payments I just remember those last few months and the chemo etc which was good for her, strangely. My Mum was younger than yours.
Each to their own and I know the public system is fine when you're young with sports injuries or something but it's when you're old that you need it.
Also a bit shocked that somè are such tight arses about their health and happily spend on really unimportant *****.

 

Tell me about it, total rip off.

 

If you are single and relatively healthy; not much value.

You'd be better off to put the premiums into an offset account against your PPoR or IP's etc.

In the event of serious accidental injury; you will be shipped to a public hospital with suitable facilities - even if you have private cover.

If you have an "elective" surgery required - such as knee reconstruction etc; you can "jump the queue" with private health cover, otherwise the wait will be a long one if you go public.

Anyone with kids...no brainer - you must have private cover.

 

My partner had to get a CT done yesterday. The referring doctor asked us whether we had private health care or not. We said no, so he put it through on medicare. Had we had private health care, I believe we would have had to pay the excess.

If my assumptions are right, then it's clearly a broken system.

 

My wife is a theater nurse, and has worked in both Private and Public hospitals for 20 odd years.

Guess where the level of care is often worse? Private.

Why? it is a business and needs to make a profit.

Hence; they try to use as little staff as possible...across the board.

 

Haha i suspected there was something wrong with you! It all makes sense now... My wife is a nurse too! !
same opinions too, private is a machine that takes the cream jobs off the public, get in, get out butchery system.

But as @wylie said it does have it's benefits, but not every hospital and setup is the same. one private hospital in Sydney would send the new mums to a flash hotel after bubs born to get the "single room"care with a complimentary bottle of bubbly (??) Then have the Midwife go around for check ups. Freed up an expensive hospital room to keep the babies coming out plus fulfilled the "private" benefits

 

Glad you had good care.

Wylie, I said "often"....not "all"

Based on my wife's experience.

I have had 2 hernea operations, and all 3 of our kids were born at the same private hospital down here on the Peninsula....fabulous care with all visits.

 

I had a heart attack last year - emergency admission to Royal Melbourne so they never asked about private cover (which I had) and just went into the public ward. A friend who is a nurse there said I was probably better off there as I was being seen by a much wider variety of staff and so the chance of something being missed was lower. I will say that the care was excellent. For elective surgery like joint replacement with a longer stay I'd probably appreciate the greater amenity of going private.

 

Don't have it.
My accountant is on the board of a hospital.
He said unless your a sickly type person its not worth it.

 

I have the minimum level of hospital cover required to avoid the additional Medicare surcharge, that's the only reason. No extras either. That costs a lot less than 1.5% additional income tax.

 

For anyone earning a decent income with a couple of children the difference between paying for private health insurance and what you would claim back verses paying a higher Medicare levy is practically nothing.

 

We pay less for private health cover than we would pay as Medicare levy, so for us it is also tax minimisation with benefits...

 

That was a Howard policy designed to force people to take out cover they don't necessarily want or need. Despite this penalty there are still tens of thousands of higher income earners who simply pay the extra surcharge every year because they refuse to participate in the private system.

 

And is that based on ideology or financial common sense comrade Chifely?..

 

You obviously like the policy - good for you. You can spend money on getting that all-important iridology or homoeopathy cover and work on unblocking your chakras or perhaps a completely useless 'basic hospital cover' policy that actually buys you nothing at all when it comes time to claim (only accommodation, not treatment).

Personally I prefer to pay the Medicare surcharge. I live down the road from the Alfred, probably the best public hospital in Australia. Chances are that's where I'll end up in an emergency situation anyway - regardless of my cover.