Why Don't You Have Private Health Insurance?

paraneoplastic on 30/05/2019 - 18:21
Last edited 30/05/2019 - 18:44 by 1 other user

After the recent news about Prof Charlie Teo charging 'outrageous' fees for life saving brain surgery I want to get the opinions of people who don't have private health insurance, and if you don't why you choose not to (i.e. cost, public system is sufficient etc etc)

Some context, if you look up on gofundme there are dozens of people crowdfunding for 100K + operations as they didn't have health insurance to at least cover basic hospital (which would be around 50 - 80k depending on length of stay etc.)

Health & Beauty Health Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • nocure on 30/05/2019 - 19:33
    +9

    Public system is excellent.YMMW

    • Azrael169 on 30/05/2019 - 22:51
      +2

      Except when its not. Life threatening issues (major trauma, cancer) will be treated straight away and you'll get excellent care.

      Anything 'elective'… well its a different story. Current wait time at local tertiary hospital for a neurosurgery appointment is 36 months, dosnt matter that the patient is suicidal due to constant pain and will likely lose his house. Oh and that is for the appointment, surgery will take longer. Local wait times to have tonsils removed ~ 3 years, to bad if your doing ATAR and have missed 4-5 weeks with tonsillitis.

      Some elective wait lists in the ACT have hit 7 years for a appointment.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/05/2019 - 19:52
    +12

    Because the whole insurance industry is so greedy and corrupt at the lowest possible level ever.

  • altomic on 30/05/2019 - 19:53
    +3

    my wife had private health insurance when she had a chronic illness. it allowed her to access treatment from a leading specialist, as well as necessary surgeries with a very short wait time.

    initially, before private health insurance, she had had treatment in the public sector which was sub-par/negligent.

    I still believe public is great and most medical professionals working it do an excellent job. we, unfortunately encountered 2 supposedly highly regarded doctors that were shit.

  • Quantumcat on 30/05/2019 - 19:55
    +1

    I have private health insurance but have never used it. I'd probably be better off without it but at least if I get some kind of illness or injury where it lets me jump a queue or get better treatment I can avoid the ire of the Ozbargain community when I post "need medical care but I'm uninsured".

  • whooah1979 on 30/05/2019 - 20:20

    $8000 may sound a lot, but it's only 7% (gross) of the funds collected.
    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/professor-henry-woo…

    In that particular scenario Dr Teo said he would get $8000.

  • Heaps for Cheaps on 30/05/2019 - 20:24
    +3

    For me, it's the high cost and the feeling that public health care may be enough. However, twice in the last 12 months I have looked at getting it but the options were confusing, and the cost of approx $60/week is just so much. I have come to realise I have to look after my own health as best I can because that might be my only chance to help myself, and that sadly isn't the ultimate plan, but all I can do in my situation.

  • Some Human on 30/05/2019 - 20:37
    +3

    Because this isn't Murica.

  • paraneoplastic on 30/05/2019 - 20:44
    +3

    i work in the medical field, and during a rotation in a GP clinic it was abundently clear to me that patients who had private health insurance had far better outcomes, simply due to the easier access to specialists and foregoing, sometimes insanely long wait lists.

    For example i had an elderly lady who need a knee replacement, now in the public system she would be catogorized as non-urgent and expect to wait 12 - 18 months. However it was causing her significant pain and her daily living was comporimised as such. A few days later i had an elderly man who was morbidly obese (BMI 50+) and as a result of his weight required a knee replacement as well, luckily he had private health care and had his operation 2 weeks later.

    I understand that the cost can be high, i ask myself is the $240 premium per month worth it, but from my limited experience and what i've seen so far i think it definetly is.

  • SmiTTy on 30/05/2019 - 20:59

    Also read an interesting article yesterday about this

    https://amp.9news.com.au/article/0cab7495-0809-4d17-b4ea-8e8…

    • paraneoplastic on 30/05/2019 - 21:10

      i guess you really have to be a stickelr for the fine print, but medication whcih are on the PBS will always not be claimable via private health

      for example ADALIMUMAB (Humera) which is a bDMARD used for inflammatory bowel, rheumatoid arthritis and a whole boat load of other diseases without PBS would cost upto $3,606 per injection but because fo the PBS it only costs $40.3 - i think people take that for granted.

      I'm with drs health fund, they have high premiums no doubt, but i had 100% back on a adenotonsilectomy i had last year - saw the ENT on tuesday operated on friday out of hospital sunday. Perfection.

  • elgrande on 30/05/2019 - 22:25
    +1

    You get a tv at your bed if you have private health cover.

    • LikeMike on 31/05/2019 - 09:17

      Depends on the hospital. At Mater public everyone gets free tv and the selection of meals from the menu is really excellent for a public service

  • Garden gnome on 30/05/2019 - 23:22
    +2

    I'm in the 20-30 year old bracket and wasn't earning enough for it to seem worthwhile. Anything urgent (tonsils, appendix, gynae emergencies etc) where I live is either treated at the nearest public hospital with an emergency department or requires a trip to a Melbourne public hospital. Anything else would be elective.

    Recently I needed my wisdom teeth out and decided to get it done privately and was self insured (private hospital, chose my own oral surgeon, picked my surgery date and location, had 4 wisdom teeth extracted with a general anaesthetic) as I knew the surgeon I wanted to go with as she had previously good outcomes and reviews from family members.

    Total cost came to approximately $4000 with an out of pocket cost of $3500 after all medical (and dentist) related expenses with about $400-$500 with medicare rebates.

    Now my income has increased I am going to sign up to private health insurance due to the fact that if I do need joint surgeries down the road and I don't want to spend more than a year waiting to be operated upon in a public hospital by a surgeon you don't know or can't choose etc and knowing the procedure will cost upwards of $7000.

    The choice of doctor is a significant benefit of private health insurance, not all doctors or surgeons are the same.

  • Bourb on 30/05/2019 - 23:55
    +1

    We stopped paying in to Private Health in 2010, and instead put the monthly premium into a special holiday bank account.
    Two trips to America, two to Thailand, and a trip to London and Paris and we are still in credit.

    Live healthy and forget about paying the massive fees to PHI!

  • Blitzfx on 31/05/2019 - 00:29
    +4

    I'm still paying for mine, but I'm reconsidering because they recently upped the price (which is always normal), but they also reduced the extras AND removed ALL heart-related insurance claims on my tier.

    Removing one of the biggest ailments plaguing Australians from the list is a huge scummy move.

    • adventurouslion on 31/05/2019 - 14:27

      I agree with you to an extent and yes dropping the heart related claims from some insurance companies could be argued as mean spirited but i can see the other side of the argument.
      Too many people continue to smoke,drink heavily and lead a life of bad choices and bad diets. All those choices can lead to heart issues later on in life.
      no wonder insurance companies are baulking at those extra's claims.
      Obesity and other illnesses are more times than not caused by the individual and is a life choice, if you make those decisions than you can't complain that an insurance company won't insure you for some cases.
      All that being said, it is not the case for everyone, so before i get howled down by some, i do accept it's not across the board.
      If more people lived a healthy life, looked after themselves better and maybe treated their bodies as non recyclable the health system would be in much better shape and there wouldn't be this discussion.

      Personally i have Hospital cover and extras cover and would not go without it, with 3 young children and i make sure i get my monies worth when it comes to extras.

      • Blitzfx on 31/05/2019 - 15:46

        I think ultimately the basis of having insurance is so that everyone can pool in $ to a corporation and hopefully you'll have a safety net in case something goes wrong.

        But it's really difficult to keep doing that when thoughts like "why am I paying for that person's bad habits" or "why should my money go to saving that person's life when they deliberately put them self in that situation" are at the forefront of your mind at the ever increasing bills and reduced value.

        At this rate, if you're young, it's better off to set aside your own medical savings for a rainy day AND make interest off of it because you're statistically unlikely to suffer from problems that older people go through.

        Insurance companies excluding more and more claimables from my plan just makes it easier to decide not to renew.

        But as a parent, I wouldn't think the way I currently do due to how many complications children can experience, and the financial stress of dealing with 4-5 figure hospital bills vs paying only a few hundred $ a month.

  • try2bhelpful on 31/05/2019 - 07:11

    If you have a serious illness then the Public hospital system works well. They get you in quickly and the costs are low. If you want to get things done quickly then consider PH but be aware you are still likely to be out of pocket and, sometimes, by a considerable amount.The other thing to keep in mind is you might pay for day procedure in a private hospital but if something goes wrong they will admit you and you will be up for the bed costs until you can move elsewhere.

    The best thing you can have is a very good GP who has connections with a number of specialists. These GPs don’t bulk bill but they are worth the expense. They know good specialists that work in both the public and private systems and give guidance if they think the wait time would be an issue.

    • Sweet3st on 31/05/2019 - 11:21

      Good advice!

  • Bid Sniper on 31/05/2019 - 08:19
    +2

    Too expensive, public service is great. We went to a private hospital for birth our daughter, it was awful experience. Public is far better. I have private cover for my daughter but not me.

    Plus I dont believe supporting a 2 tier medical system based on income, Elysium…

    Rather just pool that money into a saving account incase I need it. Also encourages me to stay healthy because I'm cheap!

    • adventurouslion on 31/05/2019 - 14:11

      You need encouragement to stay healthy and live a long and prosperous life?

      May i ask,do you have any children?

      • futureminime on 28/06/2019 - 11:29

        I think everyone needs a bit of encouragement. I have no doubt I would live a longer and more prosperous life if I took better care of myself. There are a range of risk taking behaviors we take part of every day, both activity and food related.

        Unfortunately if its too cold I'll skip the evening run and if I feel like a soft drink I'll have one.

  • outlander on 31/05/2019 - 08:58
    +2

    Insurance in any form is a gamble, and I only gamble with my life.
    Which I do. #Team-nohealthinsurance

  • jasonlv87 on 31/05/2019 - 09:47
    +1

    Because Bupa let me down when I needed them.
    I found out I had partial torn retinas during a routine eye check. To get my eyes sorted out cost close to $5,000 and BUPA didn't cough up a cent despite having intermediate level 2 cover, because 'Medicare covered part of it' (which was around $40). I would have gone blind in both eyes if I didn't have the surgery so everything minus the tiny refund from Medicare was out of pocket.
    At best I was paying Bupa $320 a month for a crappy discount card.
    The public health system has never let me down when I've needed it and the wait time for my last surgery was less than when I paid for private out of pocket (different surgeries though but my eyes under private were more serious and had a longer wait).

    • Heaps for Cheaps on 31/05/2019 - 11:11

      I would love private health insurance but these sort of stories are horrible. $320 isn't cheap for most people, and to get such horrible treatment… Hope you are doing much better now!

  • Sweet3st on 31/05/2019 - 11:28

    I think it depends where you live. I live close to a major teaching hospital and have always had fantastic treatment, short waits for surgery, paid nothing. Birth Centre at RPA was great when I had my child. Again, free. My mother paid for private health insurance all her life, then when she got cancer ended up dropping it and going public, as it was so much cheaper for same level of care. Agree with try2bhelpful, having a good GP with contacts will be more useful than the ability to choose your specialist. Most of them work in both systems, so if your GP can set up an appointment with someone good, they'll do you in the public system.

  • Sunshines bright on 31/05/2019 - 15:55

    Looked into private cover as I wanted to have an elective surgery and some dental work done but because I am over 50 and never had insurance before I get penalized and the cost is just too expensive to justify getting it.

  • yogihogi on 31/05/2019 - 16:13
    +1

    We setup our own insurance ( paying $100 a week into an offset account) we have only had to dip into it once when my wife had to get a crown. We set it in our late 20s and would recommend it to anyone in good Health

    • Sunshines bright on 31/05/2019 - 17:41

      👏 👏what a great idea!!! 👏 👏

  • Aeonx on 31/05/2019 - 18:23

    Everyone’s circumstances are different. If I have a family history of ailments, I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to get PH cover in addition to our great public system. If I’m young and relatively in good shape, then I’d probably either forego PH or get base level cover.

    Irrespective if one has PH or not, it pays to research the dr, see if they practise in both private and public. Sometimes the surgeon has the discretion to bump you up the waiting list, and be operated under the public system.

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