How To Choose Health Insurance

So what is private health insurance?

Private health insurance covers some or all of the costs associated with being a private patient in areas of health care. Generally there are two categories, hospital cover and extras covers which relates to general treatments.

These can be taken together or separate. The more comprehensive your cover, the more expensive your premiums are.

In Australia we have the Medicare system which gives you access to public hospitals and doctors. There are some services that Medicare does not cover which private health insurance provides access to such as physiotherapy, optometry, general dental, ambulance, speech therapy, home nursing, chiropractic treatment, occupational therapy and podiatry. There are also some procedures that aren?t covered because they are not deemed clinically relevant by a doctor.

There are different levels of cover that you can take out. The most comprehensive covers would cover for choice of private hospital and choice of doctor, full cover for range of hospital services, and higher benefit amounts for extras. The lower level covers will have smaller benefit amounts for extras (as well as limited types) and fewer services in private hospitals (so some may not be covered or only partially covered).

Choosing your level of cover can be hard because of the costs involved. It is important to consider the life stage you are at. For example if you are planning on having kids in the next few years it is probably a good idea to include pregnancy benefits. Also look at family medical history and your lifestyle and consider what features are important to you and your family.

Medicare Levy surcharge

The Medicare levy is a tax to fund Australia?s public health system in order to provide universal access to health services. It ranges from 1-1.5% for those earning over a certain threshold and who do not have eligible private health cover. To be eligible to avoid the levy you need to not have an excess or co-payment greater then $500 for individual policies and $1000 for couples and families.

The rate of tax is dependent on your income bracket. It could work out to be cheaper for you if you took out appropriate private health insurance.

Private health insurers will usually have certain waiting periods on various covers before you can make a claim. This is to avoid people making a claim immediately and then cancelling their cover. There may also be a waiting period placed on your policy if you have a pre-existing condition (usually 12 months). The good news here is they cannot reject your membership on these grounds unlike life insurance companies.

There are many comparison websites that can show you different premiums and the levels of covers from different companies. Also keep in mind that some insurers have corporate discounts depending on your workplace so check this as well. Private health insurance can be expensive but it does offer piece of mind to make sure you and your family will be covered if anything goes wrong.

**Savings Guide Disclaimer - Please Read**

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Source: http://www.savingsguide.com.au/how-to-choose-health-insurance-to-save-money/

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