I have recently gotten myself Private Health Insurance (PHI). I have gotten hospital and extras cover.
The reason is mainly 2 folds - (a) Reduce taxation (b) Get extras that cover part of my dental expenses.
First of all, I am above an income bracket where I will have an additional 1% tax on my income to suppliment the govt's free Medicare if I do not have PHI.
Furthermore, govt will subsidise 30% of the PHI premium. Well, one can say that in most sense, this doesn't make much difference as almost everyone is entitled to get that 30% discount. Thus they are calculated into the premiums already.
The most important part is, I have additional benefits above Medicare. Now Medicare already covers all doctor's fees (Read my
previous encounter) and that's true even for hospital. But for some operations, especially elective, public healthcare doesn't cover for them, or one had to wait in a waiting list for a long time to get it free.
With PHI, I am entitled to be treated as private patient in public hospital for everything and my PHI will cover the gap (additional fees). That means I can choose my specialist, get faster attention (for non-emergency treatment), stay in better wards, etc.
Also, with PHI, for some operations (depending on level of cover), I can choose a private hospital and choose a doctor and still have everything covered - 100%, less the excess amount. And the excess is capped per year.
Second type of cover included is what we called 'extras'. That is something above the normal hospital cover. It include things like dental, optical (glasses, contacts, etc), massages, therapies, etc.
Now, as everyone knows, dental expenses are higher in Australia compared to Singapore, I estimate at least 50% more expensive. For example, filling for a large tooth here (they measure by type of filling and number of surfaces the fillilng covers) cost me about $150, whereas I can get it filled in my neighbourhood dental clinic back in Singapore for about $70-80.
I bought the basic level of cover, which means I am entitled to claim 65% of my dental expenses, limited to $500 per calendar year. I am also entitled to claim up to $200 for glasses prescription, up to $300 or so for various types of massages (foot reflexology, oil massage, etc, by licensed practitioners), $300 or so for therapies (aromatherapy, physiotherapies, etc, again must be by licensed practitioners) every calendar year.
My premium for the extra's portion is about $200+ per year. I can claim back about $500 per year - its already an advantage to me. Also, I can claim 100% of 2 x dental cleaning and scaling per year, and 100% of 1 x flouride treatment per year.
Since I have bad dental history and weak teeth, I would have to use the dental services in Australia sooner or later. Based on history, I spend a few hundred buck a year anyway, back in Singapore. Here, with the claims, my out-of-pocket and premiums, it works out to be slightly more per year (about 30% more) but I can now regularly visit the dentist to repair and also, hopefully, to prevent more problems.
Not too bad a deal, especially when I need to get PHI anyway to save on tax. The amount I save on tax is more than my premiums in the first place !
In future, I can increase my cover, PHI will even include heart operations, joint replacements, and up to 95% of my expenses on dental, etc (and the cap per year will increase too, not just $500).
So in summary, with the govt's Medicare and my PHI, I am covered for all medical expenses (I pay only $500 excess) if I am involved in accident, or develop any cyst or tumour, appendicitis, requires minor eye surgery, or any joint reconstructive surgey, or even to repair a slipped disc.
