Hiya,
My husband and I are both retired and over 65. We have been toying with the idea of cancelling our private health cover , which I know sounds mad at our age, as we pay $419 per month for it. I have done a bit of adding as to what it would cost us per year for our extras that we use frequently, dental, optometrist, Chiro, podiatrist. That comes to about $2500.00 per year.
What are your thoughts on relying on the free health service? We are in Queensland.
Thanking you in advance.
Ann
I shopped around all the companies, still some good deals around. You can just have extras cover. Prices vary widely. At 65 you get an extra 4% discount on hospital cover. (extra rebate) I dont have extras (no teeth), am currently with qantas, I get Frequent Flyer points and also extra points for the wellbeing app. I noticed extras prices varied widely. NIB has a great rewards program, discounted gift cards, but not sure if you get access with just extras
its a gamble, if you need a hip replacement or knee replacement you could be waiting a while in the public system
suncorp also has a great rewards program and private health but you can get access with free bank account I think
You also get an extra 4% discount at 70
There is a magic age - its 50ish I think - beyond which its actually worth having private health insurance cover due to the statistical likelihood, based on age, that you will get more out of the system than you put in.
Less than the magic age = statistically you are better off self-insuring and relying on public health
Older than the magic age = statistically you are better off having private health cover.
Of course if everyone did this the system would collapse. It relies on many people getting less out of private health than they collectively put in, so that some people can get more out of it than they put in, and the private health insurance companies can make a profit.
You are older than this age so I would continue with private health insurance.
Statistically perhaps but financially perhaps not. Once you take in to account rebate & income, sometimes private health can pay for itself (or just about).
Personally I ditched extras cover about 6 months ago and just have hospital cover which sets me back about $1500/yr. If I was to forgo private insurance and pay the Medicare surcharge, I would be up for roughly $1300 in extra tax. It's a pretty easy decision.
Private health is worthless until something serious happens, then it's priceless.