37k Net - Is It Worth Paying Health Insurance?

• 

  mskeggs on 13/09/2018 - 20:36

  +8

  emergency health insurance only + trauma insurance with cancer and heart attack included

  Medicare offers complete coverage for these. I'm sure somebody will come along and tell me how they got their choice of doctor in the ED so it was completely worth paying extra $1000s per year, but really, do you have nothing you would rather spend money on?

  Health insurance is poor value unless you have many chronic health issues, or are forced to buy it because you have a high income. How could it be anything else, or the companies would go broke immediately.

  Your very low income suggests you can likely find a better use of $33pw, even if it is just putting it in the bank in case of a health issue.

• 

  toniyellow on 13/09/2018 - 20:38

  Ambulance cover / membership is very cheap. Ambulance rides without insurance can be very expensive.

  Any further insurance I would be put some critical thought into it because your salary doesn't seem like you have a lot of disposable income.

  https://www.doineedhealthinsurance.com.au is a good resource.

  If you had a heart attack an ambulance would likely take you to the nearest public hospital.

  If you had cancer, you would be able to receive appropriate care in a public hospital. Private cover might let you choose treatment in a hospital that is closer to you, and may offer things like a private room. If you have an unusual form of cancer you may not be able to choose as there may only very few doctors in your state specialising in that.

  Everyone pays Medicare levy, it is the Medicare levy surcharge that can be avoided with private health but your income is not that high.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 13/09/2018 - 20:40

    If you're in QLD, the government abolished the membership and pay for it. (Only the frequent users had it anyway so.. :o )

• 

  [Deactivated] on 13/09/2018 - 20:39

  +1

  The public system is as good / better for 'I'm going to die right now if I don't get treatment' care anyway. I'm a big advocate of having private health insurance if you can afford it but I'm not sure with your income it's going to be worth it. You're not going to pay the medicare levy surcharge by not having it. (Everyone pays the medicare levy, whether you have private health insurance or not, so it's not really a factor in any decisions and it doesn't really count for your 'health cost').

  It probably depends on your general health / fitness / appetite for risk etc. I had a junk fund that started out good by without noticing it became emergency / trauma cover. When I actually needed an operation they paid almost none of it (about 3-6 months worth of premiums). I'd consider the trauma / emergency / heart attack components a waste of money completely.

  The real answer to if private health insurance is worth it you only know when / if you need it. If everything goes well it's a waste of money.

• 

  elgrande on 13/09/2018 - 20:44

  Assuming you are young, I would reconsider the need for health cover until your ready to start a family.

  Do you have a private hospital with an emergency department nearby? You may end up at a public hospital anyways in an emergency situation (hard to plan for, trust me).

• 

  atapajosj on 13/09/2018 - 21:32

  My family/income scenario:
  Myself: 42k Gross -37k taxable ; sole trader cleaner ; 32y ;
  Wife: 22k Gross - 18k Taxable ;Also sole trader cleaner ; 36y

  We are very frugal and crazy savvy… renting in Perth $310 p/w…3x1 in a good suburb (Melville)…

  My wife is pregnant and our baby will come in December…

  • 

    harrribo on 13/09/2018 - 21:49

    My personal choice is to have private health cover,

    but not with HCF

    please have a look at GU Health ( Grand United )

    they have many options of what you want , and what you don't need gets taken off

    worth a shot ? have a go

  • 

    PissLUR on 13/09/2018 - 22:56

    +1

    Public all the way. It's very good.

  • 

    onevstheworld on 13/09/2018 - 22:58

    Do you expect your income to increase substantially in the next few years? Do you want to have private health cover in the long term? If both are yes, you may want to keep some level of hospital cover so you can avoid the Lifetime Health Cover loading later. You do have some leeway though… since you already have cover, you can have a gap in your cover and rejoin later without LHC.
    https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/incentivess…

• 

  monkeybusiness on 13/09/2018 - 21:50

  +1

  Not worthwhile for the low income you are on but take this with a grain of salt.

  The public system is decent enough if you have an emergency and if they believe it is life threatening then you will be treated straight away. Its more the non emergency stuff that have long waiting lines. Even then a portion can be claimed via Medicare

  With a child on the way, you need to consider the additional expenses and also the increase to the healthy policy.

  The only way it is potentially "worthwhile" is if you make a lot of claims for Extras and somehow not have to pay gaps. I find even then, you are still better off not paying for the insurance and just save up the money in your bank and spend it at once on the necessary glasses/dentist/whatever extra you need when you need it.

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  PissLUR on 13/09/2018 - 22:55

  Waste of money. Just buy extras and ambulance cover.
  That's it.

  • 

    buckster on 15/09/2018 - 13:36

    Even extras is a waste of money

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  tassieeagle on 13/09/2018 - 23:04

  +1

  No

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  onevstheworld on 13/09/2018 - 23:07

  +1

  emergency health insurance only + trauma insurance with cancer and heart attack included

  Make sure you read the terms and conditions of these policies… on the face of it, looks like a junk policy to me. Public system is pretty good for these emergency situations (and many private hospitals don't even take emergency patients).

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  CyberMurning on 13/09/2018 - 23:16

  Drop it till your income is high enough and cross the threshold

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  ChillBro on 13/09/2018 - 23:19

  Pretty sure it's only worthwhile financially if you earn more than 90k.

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  spackbace on 14/09/2018 - 00:49

  +1

  Gotta say, makes me pretty proud of this country when the majority of commenters have said that public health is good enough, or pretty good.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 15/09/2018 - 14:53

    Oath to that. As much as I hate paying taxes, I can definitely see the benefits of it. We have it really well in this beautiful country and it saddens me that a lot of people can't see that. :(

• 

  Pixel on 14/09/2018 - 01:23

  +2

  I'll start this off with full disclosure that i'm in the health industry and am aware of the different health care that patients receive as a public or private patient. I'm trying to be as subjective as I can but obviously I will have some personal bias based on personal experience.

  Of the total budget that Australia has, health care costs are a significant proportion of it, but the medicare levy is hardly anything but was introduced by the government to offset the cost of rising health care. Most of the expenses of health care are usually in the last year of life (makes sense since that's the year they're trying to prolong) but most of that proportion is different to what people expect. Most of the cost of health care is for the drugs that we take. Under the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme that the government has introduced, patients will only ever pay a certain amount, with the rest subsidised by the government. What most people don't know is that some drugs are really damn expensive. A single dose of a chemotherapy drug could be as much as $20,000 - which are taken by patients for multiple weeks. Most of the remaining budget for health care is within the hospital system. The cost to the government is roughly about $1000/day/patient in a normal hospital bed, slightly more in the emergency department or the Intensive Care unit. Finally the final 1-2% is spent in primary/preventative care - which prevents about 70% of the cost of health care in Australia every year.

  So why is this relevant? It's important to have an understanding of where money is going towards when you're making a decision.
  Medicare levy surcharge was introduced by the government to try and ask high-income earners to cover some of the cost of health care (as you can see - it's pretty expensive) and to encourage high income earners to provide cover for themselves. Private health care covers for just that hospital part of the health care. Government will still subsidise your drugs, if you see a bulk billing centre - government will still cover that. If you go to a public hospital in the case of an emergency that will also be covered. What private health care covers and why there is a benefit is mostly for surgeries and more specifically elective surgeries.

  Elective surgeries can be broadly defined as surgeries that are done that will improve the quality of life of a person but are not immediately life threatening. The advantages are that you have shorter waiting times and you get to choose a doctor. I really have to say that a lot of the time health care provided by a public hospital is almost always going to be better than a private hospital in the case of a complicated case. What I mean is that while everything is going according to plan, private hospital seems nicer - get bigger rooms, nicer meals etc. But when it comes down to health care, public hospitals are better staffed, have more doctors and you are monitored better so if anything does go wrong they're often better equipped to deal with it. My personal hospital frequently receives patients from the private hospital in Emergency situations.

  The benefit I see in having private health care is that you get to choose your operating surgeon in the case of an elective surgery. So… if you're healthy, don't have any chronic health issues and don't anticipate that you or your partner will then you shouldn't get any private health care. However, if you could see yourself needing surgery for something, you're expecting to have a baby or have a chronic disease then yes it would be beneficial to continue with private health insurance.

  In summary:
  - I would say that the best way to look after yourself is to not get sick in the first place - what I mean is find the time to find a good GP - someone that spends the time to keep you healthy. These guys are the real MVPs of health care - so if that does mean when you visit them you need to pay a little extra then do it because it's insignificant compared to other things.
  - If you're a high income earner it's beneficial for society to get private health insurance and I thank you for your contribution. If you were to continue just taking from the health system then the current trajectory is unsustainable and we may well end up moving closer to America's health model (which nobody wants)
  - If you are not a high-income earner, be savy with when you get private health insurance - start it 1 year before you plan to have a baby (3 months before you plan to get pregnant), as soon as you start to see your body deteriorating, it's also cheaper to start private health insurance when you don't have chronic disease compared to after (since it raises your premiums significantly)

  Feel free to ask some more questions if you want.

• 

  TheBilly on 14/09/2018 - 05:51

  I would rather keep paying levies and have the gov put more into the public system. Ive only had good experiences in public - touch wood. Recently I heard a story about a lady giving birth and her private OB that she had paid thousands for didnt rock up and she was in the public system anyway. The midwives were like, 'shes about to pop, but shes screaming that she wants her OB here' - how much does it cost for a private birth? waste of money.

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  buckster on 15/09/2018 - 13:38

  Unless you're planning on giving birth privately you should dump it now. Not worth it given what you earn and all accidents and trains will be fixed through Medicare.

  Private health is only useful is you need joints replaced, or want your tonsils out asap