Question about churning Private Health Insurance

LAussieTiger on 16/11/2024 - 15:28

Hello! I have done a bit of googling and had a read but cant quiet find the answer to my question.

I recently switched insurers to NIB. My partner and I have Silver hospital and we had mid extras. We switched to NIB for the 8 weeks free promotion and decided to pay a bit more for the 'top extras' as we have some things we could use it on in the next couple of months, such dental check up etc.

We had already served waiting periods, so I thought we would be able to claim straight away. But NIB have since told me that we must serve the waiting period again for the extras (eg. 2 months for dental) to be able to claim on the top extras. But in the mean time we could claim on the lower mid extras, which they can see we had with our previous insurer. Is this the case?

We are still in cooling off period, so I am thinking to downgrade to mid extras, get the 8 weeks free after a month and churn to Bupa. Im already not a fan of NIB. You cant even contact them on the weekend with any queries.

Health & Beauty Health Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • ihfree on 16/11/2024 - 15:31
    +2

    Got a link to the terms and conditions of the deal you used?

    • YesPleaseThankYou on 16/11/2024 - 16:03
      +1

      Yes, tip for the OP and everyone: read the terms and conditions!

  • Trance N Dance on 16/11/2024 - 15:32
    +6

    Yes, that's correct.
    Every time you increase coverage you have to redo the waiting period before being eligible to claim anything under the higher coverage. If you move across to equal or lower coverage a new waiting period does not apply.

    • YesPleaseThankYou on 16/11/2024 - 15:50

      This is the correct answer. Though, not all insurers make you wait for the higher limits - it's hit and miss.

      Note, however, if the promo waived waits, then by definition the new (higher) limits should apply immediately.

      In years of health fund churning, I have never churned to NIB or NIB-related brands, as the wait for eligibility of promotions is too long.

      Further, it has been my experience that NIB customer service is suboptimal.

  • MS Paint on 16/11/2024 - 15:44

    If you swap like for like then it's fine. Obviously. FFS.

    • YesPleaseThankYou on 16/11/2024 - 15:55
      +1

      It is difficult to swap like-for-like with Extras as Extras policies don't have set tiers (Basic to Gold) with set inclusions like Hospital policies do.

      Compare even the so-called 'Top' Extras across insurers and you will find significant differences.

  • simplystu on 16/11/2024 - 15:48

    By sounds of it …

    After doing promotion .. you then decided to upgrade to a higher tier.

    While not personally with NIB (I believe this is fairly standard across industry) - when upgrading to a higher tier of cover … Often have to redo waiting period.

    Of course - a quick phonecall + check of PDS would confirm this (faster than some of these OZB replies).

  • Brucet on 18/11/2024 - 11:43
    -3

    Why people have to pay for private health insurance ? age 64 now I never have it.what for ?

  • Brucet on 21/11/2024 - 16:41
    -2

    We have free public hospital system in Australia.

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