I am looking for health insurance mainly to do with dental. I am relatively new to health insurance but I am most conserned about dental.
Does anyone have suggestions tips and even the hidden catches people often over-look.
Appreciate any information!
As above for general dental cover, but if you are expecting any cover for major dental I am afraid you will be disappointed. I had $12000.00 worth of work done while covered under top extras and got a total of $640.00 cover.
It also depends on what you're looking for. We decided to pay upfront ourselves for orthodontic treatment for our son as we worked out that by the time we qualified for major dental and paid the extra premiums plus what rebates you get back which are not a lot, we would end up paying as much as for the treatment itself. One thing to note, if you tell your dentist that you do not have private cover for this, quite often, they will reduce the cost of the treatment. I was also told by the orthodontist that we could pay in installments for plate / braces. Ie pay each time we came in for adjustment and checkup. We have basic cover for minor dental, check up and cleaning. with $0 with certain no gap providers .
may not be entirely irrelevant to the OP's question - but the option of getting it done in Asia is very attractive and a very viable alternative
If you are looking at overseas dental Trip advisor forums for Bangkok and Phuket have comprehensive feedback on dental holidays. My father in law had work done in Macedonia for 1/4 of the price of the quote in Australia . His dentist in Australia knew he couldn't afford to have it done here ($12000 compared to just under $3000) and said the work is of excellent quality. Although his cousin said the dentist saw him coming and he could have got it for half the price in Bulgaria. I guess a bargain is relative.
you need to do your research. some of the work is actually great but some is also of very poor standard, and if anything goes wrong you have no recourse. also there is always a concern about standard of hygiene and in asia the transmission of HIV, Hepatitis etc
I am baffled at how many people here always mention the poor standard etc with such a tone, which I think is bordering to spreading FUD. How do you think people in those countries live and survive the so called poor standard? Of course we need some recommendations, no matter where you live there will always be good and bad dentist, or doctor, or whatever it is.
Assuming I don't have enough money, do you think that it is still better to get a "lower-than-standard" treatment than no treatment at all? Or get into debt instead?
your 100% right - there are good and bad in everything - doctors, mechanics, lawyers etc. but this does not take away from the fact that in a first world country you have a greater chance of getting a better quality of treatment - due to many things, including government regulation as well as better education standards. but of course this comes at a price. having said that good treatment can be found anywhere - including asia. you just have to be careful. and you're also right - some treatment is better than none - as long as the treatment doesnt cause further issues or make things worse..
i'm in the industry and i can tell you many funds give back very little.
in my experience the best funds are NIB, Australian Unity, HCF. Go for a fund that gives back a percentage of what you pay regardless of who provides the work - such as NIB that will give back 50-75% of the treatment cost (depending on your level of cover) until you reach your limit. funds like Medibank and BUPA are very stingy - unless you are seeing one of their preferred providers you get back peanuts.
another consideration is work out how much you need to spend to get a benefit. ie some people will pay $1000 per year in premiums to get back $500 (which with some low paying funds takes a lot of work to actually use). Unless you have lots of work every year - often its worth just paying it all yourself and not worrying about health insurance!!
Thanks for the info, I am changing from Medibank to NIB, I get better dental and overall coverage, plus save $70.00 a month in premiums
I was with NIB. Ended up in hospital for 4 months (after having the cover for 10 months) and was told they wouldn't cover me because it was pre-existing even though I wasn't diognosed for 3 months. Eventually they agreed to pay for it (after I was released from the public hospital). I changed the next day.
So which one do you think is the best in term of cost and benefits? I think the hidden catches here are the limit which is to small, the gap which is too huge, and the difficulties in making claims.
that's a tricky one. some would say they are all crooks! remember health funds are out to make a buck - ultimately they want you to pay more in premiums that they pay out in rebates.
if you want health insurance to minimise tax then go for the cheapest fund you can find. if you dont use dental, optical, physio etc then maybe go for hospital only and pay for extras as required. but if you want to get dental then go for a fund that pays out generously for check ups + cleans - something you will use regularly. fund premiums vary with every state so its hard for me to suggest specifics - just shop around. wont take long to go through the various fund websites but well worth the effort.
here is a link to a bunch of funds you can try: http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/money/insurance/p…
By the way, I stumbled upon a particular website - http://www.wisdomteethaustralia.com.au/about/fees-item-numbe… - that uses "oral surgeons" rather than "dentists" to allow you to have wisdom teeth removed for "free" - as long as you have a doctor's referral, you take your receipt to Medicare and you pay a medicare-refunded $71.40 consultation-fee in advance. I plan to ring eventually during business hours but does this sound too good to be true?
Okay, rang up and found out only the consultation fee is covered so you'll still need private cover for any deals.
Usually the most basic plan only covers "general dental" which is your annual check-up and cleaning and doesn't cover things like fillings, X-rays, surgery etc.
Different level of plans cover a different percentage of the cost. My "bronze" plan on Bupa (most basic) covers 60% of my general dental and I have to pay the difference (40%) which is called the "gap".
Some dentists are "no gap", which means that you don't have to pay anything for general dental regardless of the % covered in your plan.
I don't think there's many "catches" that people over look. I pay $15.50 a month and I get to go to the dentist twice a year (for checkup and cleaning. I pay around ~$50 "gap" but I can choose to go to a "no gaps" dentist and pay $0 if I wanted) and get a new pair of cheapo $150 glasses every year!
IMO that's a bargain.