Please help me with my health insurance calculations

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  YesPleaseThankYou on 03/05/2021 - 14:40

  +1

  Ignoring all of the above, the cheapest access to health insurance is to churn through join offers. Via this method, you can achieve discounts of 60% off advertised retail premiums.

  • 

    peterwilliams83 on 03/05/2021 - 17:12

    -1

    All that paperwork at tax time must be fun…

    • 

      YesPleaseThankYou on 03/05/2021 - 17:46

      +3

      Not at all.

      It's very easy to switch and all the information is passed to the ATO automatically.

      I'm not sure how you're doing it!

      (For savings of around $2,200 annually, I wouldn't have it any other way.)

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  avoidfullprice on 03/05/2021 - 15:48

  Your working out is too long to read. Edited this comment many times as I read your post

  I would go for
  insured cost = premiums + gap = total cost,
  gap = uninsured cost (the bill) - rebate,
  cost of insurance = insured cost - uninsured cost = premium - rebate
  claimed benefit of insurance = - cost of insurance

  Select cover that gives you highest claimed benefit, preferably positive benefit

  However, they all tend to change over time, at different times.

  You can fix premiums by paying annually. Otherwise changes in 1 Apr.

  The policy could change on 1 Jul / 1 Jan, affecting rebates.

  The service / uninsured cost depends on your provider pricing.

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  netjock on 03/05/2021 - 16:07

  Over complicated.

  You should work out your medicare levy surcharge (say $3k). Cost of policy (say $5k) and how much you claim ($2k), net is $3k. $3k to avoid paying $3k but you get ambulance cover and avoid lifetime loading if you ever want to get into the system. Generally if you are paying less than medicare levy surcharge then it is a no brainer.

  • 

    avoidfullprice on 03/05/2021 - 16:13

    Extra covers dont waive the Medicare Levy Surcharge

    • 

      netjock on 03/05/2021 - 16:54

      Total of $5525 (so I'm actually $1825 worse off than just paying for the 3700 yearly health services with no insurance, but this way i do have hospital cover too).

      You need to read the OP again

      • 

        avoidfullprice on 03/05/2021 - 18:16

        The hospital and extra covers have different effects. To mix extra claim back with hospital cover - that doesn't make sense in his calculation.

        What might make sense is OP annually stay overnight in private hospital and has cost saving. That's not extra rebate OP keeps taking about

        If OP is doing this for MLS reason, then the calculation would be different.

        • 

          netjock on 03/05/2021 - 23:47

          @avoidfullprice: Buying extra's only policy you might as well self insure. No extra's only policy includes hospital cover.

          Almost the only reason you buy private health insurance is junk policy hospital cover to escape paying MLS because you would pay less than if you would pay MLS.

          Women who want to be a private patient during pregnancy is the only other reason why you would pay significantly more for private health cover vs what you would pay in MLS.

          Generally hospitals in Australia is quite good. If the government would stop trying to keep the private health insurance sector alive using subsidies, the subsidies when put back into the public system would make our health care gold standard globally.

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  screensaver on 03/05/2021 - 17:43

  I pay close to $20 a week for hospital cover that has the inclusions I want, with no extras, and dont pay much over 1000 per year, Corporate is not necessarily better, I saw one corporate quote once and it was not a good deal.

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  modiika on 11/05/2021 - 09:14

  ErlichBachman

  Yes your second method is incorrect. You are counting the benefits twice. You can see this as your benefits/claimback is 1775 and this is the exact difference between your options 1 and 2.

  In option 2, you first count the claimback in the gap payment, then a second time as a claim back. However, when you make the gap payment, you have already included the claimback, as that was the different between the bill and what you paid.

  Basically, if you look at your Claim Back($1,775) as a percentage of your Yearly Premiums($3600), you would see its about 49%. So you would need to consider is having the insurance if something else unexpected happens, worth the 51% increase in cost over not having insurance. Also consider the opportunity cost (i.e. what else you coudl have used that money for if not in health insurance.

  As others have said, if your income is at the level where the medicare levy surcharge kicks in, you may find that further tips the balance towards getting the coverage. Personally, i find that unless you are using multiple extras (Optical, dental, + soemthing else), extras rarely work out.

  It is hard to tell from your post if your $3,700 a year is in regularly medical care for extras, like optical or dental. Or a mix of more general hospital care, plus extras. Just keep in mind when calculating extras coverage of the yearly limits. You should also consider just getting ambulance cover from the relevant state ambulance body, significantly cheaper.

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  ErlichBachman on 11/05/2021 - 09:56

  thanks so much ! (everyone)