How do I get value from private health insurance?

It depends on whether you are likely to be a high claimer or a low claimer. For high claimers – people who are frequent users of expensive private health insurance services such as prostheses, cosmetic surgery, orthodontics, IVF treatments – even the most expensive private health insurance products can be good value so long as the benefits exceed the premiums. If you are likely to be a low claimer, health insurers will consider you a very valuable customer and competition for your business is fierce. This means you can save real money by choosing wisely. There are a number of methods health insurers use to offer value to low claiming customers – the main ones are described below.

* Deductible (sometimes called a front-end deductible or excess) – you pay the first part of the total cost of a claim and your insurance cover starts after that. For example, under a hospital cover with a deductible of $500, you pay the first $500 of any claim and your insurer pays the balance. Hospital products with a deductible in excess of $500 per person or $1,000 per family do not qualify for avoidance of the 1% Medicare Levy Surcharge on high taxable incomes. Ozecover does not suggest these non-qualifying hospital products.

* Co-payments (sometimes called moieties) – you make a contribution towards the cost of items which you claim, and your insurance pays the balance of the cost. For example, under a hospital cover with a copayment, you may pay $50 a day towards your accommodation in hospital or, with general cover, you may pay 30% of the cost of dental procedures, and your insurance pays the balance. Unlike deductibles, copayments may be used without restriction on hospital products that qualify for avoidance of the extra 1% Medicare levy. However, Ozecover does not suggest products where copayments for hospital accommodation are more than $100 a day.

* Exclusions – these exclude cover for specified treatments. Common exclusions offered are for items related to childbirth, for cosmetic surgery and for expensive orthopaedic procedures such as hip and knee replacements. Accepting exclusions can be a useful way of reducing premiums for people who, because of their circumstances or age, are most unlikely to want the excluded services.

* Benefit limits – restrict the maximum benefits an insurer will pay for particular services or in total. There are such limits on most private health insurance products to deter customers with frequent or sizeable claims and to help keep premiums down for low claimers.

To make sure you are getting the right private health insurance cover visit Ozecover at http://www.ozecover.com.au for a no cost or obligation quote that compares every health insurance product in Australia

How do I choose my health insurance?

There are thousands of products on the Australian health insurance market, and sorting through them is a difficult task even for experts.

The free Quick Quote facility on the Ozecover website is designed to help you sort through  all the different products, based on the information you provide about yourself and your family.

To get good value for money,  the product you select is more important than the particular insurer you choose. The primary decision for you to make is about hospital cover. In most circumstances, the Quick Quote will suggest to you a list of hospital insurance covers from ten different insurers sorted in order of price.

Once you have decided what to do about your hospital cover, you can think about whether it is worthwhile for you to pay more to get the extra benefits of general cover too.  It does not make sense to spend more on extra premiums than you do on the health services they cover, many of which are routine day-to-day costs.

We suggest you make your primary decision about the hospital cover you want and, if you decide to buy, you may be able to apply directly through this site, because some have direct electronic linking to Ozecover. If you think you might benefit also from adding general  cover to your hospital cover, we suggest you discuss this directly with the health insurance company  you choose. Compare health insurance here

What does health insurance cost?

Private health insurance in Australia is not cheap, and full cover for a family can cost as much as $3,000 to $4,000 a year. However, there are a number of ways of reducing these costs.

Firstly, the Commonwealth Government provides a rebate as a proportion of the total premiums paid for appropriate private health insurance. The proportion is 30% if the oldest person covered is less than 65 years of age,  35% if they are between 65 and 70 years of age, and 40% if they are over 70 years of age.  This rebate is available even if you do not pay income tax. Your health insurer will claim the rebate on your behalf, and will bill you just the net amount. Your insurer will also adjust the rebate (thereby reducing your net premium) as you pass the age thresholds for the higher rebates.

Secondly, if you have a taxable income above a threshold amount - $70,000 a year for individuals and $140,000 a year for families – you must pay a 1% Medicare Levy Surcharge. However you can avoid this tax with suitable private hospital cover and, if you do so, the reduction in your tax is worth at least $700 a year for individuals and at least $1,400 a year for families.

These two Government incentives are added together. For example, if you are a single person under 65 years of age earning a taxable income of $110,000 a year, a premium of $2,000 a year for private health insurance will attract a rebate of $600 (ie 30% of the premium) and, if it includes suitable hospital cover, will eliminate your Medicare Levy Surcharge of $1,100 (ie 1% of $110,000), leaving a net cost to you of $300 a year.

Thirdly, if you are basically a healthy person and rarely go to hospital, then you can avoid health cover which is too expensive for your needs and which you are unlikely to use, and you can reduce your premiums with deductibles, copayments and exclusions.

Go to Ozecover for an unbiased comparison of every health insurance company and product in Australia. Ozecover gives you the top 10 products based on some answers to simple questions. http://www.ozecover.com.au/quickquote/

Health and trauma insurance complement each other

“Trauma (or critical illness) cover is not a substitute for health insurance,” Peter Carroll, an actuary with the consumer website Ozecover, told over 200 delegates at the Risk Store Conference on the Sunshine Coast this month, “they complement each other.”
“Health insurance provides cover for private hospital treatment, with community rated premiums and rebates for everyone, together with additional tax benefits for people paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge. No other form of insurance can match that. But in serious situations such as heart bypass surgery or cancer, additional cover is needed to provide financial support for patients who cannot drive or work, and are undergoing debilitating drug, chemo, radiation and hormone therapies often associated with these traumatic health conditions,” said Carroll. “That is where trauma cover comes in. The aftermath of these serious illnesses can affect families for many years. Health insurance Is a bargain as far as it goes but, ideally, consumers who want full cover for major illnesses need both private health insurance from a health cover fund and trauma or critical illness cover from a life company.”

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What health cover is available in Australia?

Private health insurance is not cheap, and full health cover for a family can cost as much as $3,000 to $4,000 a year. However, there are a number of ways of reducing these costs. Firstly, the Commonwealth Government provides a health insurance rebate as a proportion of the total premiums paid for appropriate private health insurance. The proportion is 30% if the oldest person covered is less than 65 years of age, 35% if they are between 65 and 70 years of age, and 40% if they are over 70 years of age. This rebate is available even if you do not pay income tax. Your health insurer will claim the rebate on your behalf, and will bill you just the net amount. Your insurer will also adjust the rebate (thereby reducing your net premium) as you pass the age thresholds for the higher rebates. Secondly, if you have a taxable income above a threshold amount – $70,000 a year for individuals and $140,000 a year for families – you must pay a 1% Medicare Levy Surcharge. However you can avoid this tax with suitable private hospital cover and, if you do so, the reduction in your tax is worth at least $700 a year for individuals and at least $1,400 a year for families. These two Government incentives are added together. For example, if you are a single person under 65 years of age earning a taxable income of $110,000 a year, a premium of $2,000 a year for private health cover will attract a rebate of $600 (ie 30% of the premium) and, if it includes suitable hospital cover, will eliminate your Medicare Levy Surcharge of $1,100 (ie 1% of $110,000), leaving a net cost to you of $300 a year. Thirdly, if you are basically a healthy person and rarely go to hospital, then you can avoid cover which is too expensive for your needs and which you are unlikely to use, and you can reduce your premiums with deductibles, co payments and exclusions.

To make sure you are getting the very best Health cover for you money, go to www.ozecover.com.au. We search every Australian health insurance company and product for you at no charge.

How safe are health insurers?

All private health insurance companies in Australia are regulated by the Commonwealth Government, under the Private Health Insurance Act 2007. The finances of all insurers are monitored by the Private Health Insurance Administration Council, known in the industry as PHIAC. Every fund must file regular reports on its solvency and capital adequacy, and PHIAC has powers to intervene with any insurer that has problems. At the beginning of 2009, PHIAC increased the frequency of fund reporting from quarterly to monthly in reaction to the global financial situation. Every year PHIAC publishes a report on the finances of every individual health insurance company, and this document is available for analysis and comment by anyone.

It is clearly important to do your research before deciding on your Private health insurance cover. Ozecover provides the only no-charge service in Australia, that allows you to do a comparison of every health insurance company and every product. Get your private health insurance quote now.

What Does Private Health Insurance Cost?

Private health insurance is not cheap, and full cover for a family would cost as much as $3,000 to $4,000 a year. However, there are a number of ways of reducing these costs.

Firstly, the Commonwealth Government provides a rebate as a proportion of the total premiums paid for appropriate private health insurance. The proportion is 30% if the oldest person covered is less than 65 years of age, 35% if they are between 65 and 70 years of age, and 40% if they are over 70 years of age. This rebate is available even if you do not pay income tax. Your health insurer will claim the rebate on your behalf, and will bill you just the net amount. Your insurer will also adjust the rebate (thereby reducing your net premium) as you pass the age thresholds for the higher rebates.

Secondly, if you have a taxable income above a threshold amount – $70,000 a year for individuals and $140,000 a year for families – you must pay a 1% Medicare Levy Surcharge. However you can avoid this tax with suitable private hospital cover and, if you do so, the reduction in your tax is worth at least $700 a year for individuals and at least $1,400 a year for families.

These two Government incentives are added together. For example, if you are a single person under 65 years of age earning a taxable income of $110,000 a year, a premium of $2,000 a year for private health insurance will attract a rebate of $600 (ie 30% of the premium) and, if it includes suitable hospital cover, will eliminate your Medicare Levy Surcharge of $1,100 (ie 1% of $110,000), leaving a net cost to you of $300 a year.

Thirdly, if you are basically a healthy person and rarely go to hospital, then you can avoid cover which is too expensive for your needs and which you are unlikely to use, and you can reduce your premiums with deductibles, copayments and exclusions.

To compare health insurance and find the best and cheapest option for health cover you and your family you can go to www.ozecover.com.au. The service costs you nothing and its the only one that compares every health insurance company and every product in Australia. Your quote is personalised, based on your answers to some simple questions.

What cover is available from Australian Health Insurance Companies?

There are two basic kinds of private health insurance available in the market – hospital cover and general (sometimes called ancillary or extras) cover. Hospital cover provide benefits when you go to hospital as a private patient. (see Government incentives)

If you wish, you can go to any public hospital (that is a hospital operated by the government) as a Medicare patient and be treated without charge by a doctor appointed by the hospital. As a Medicare patient, you will usually be asked to wait your turn with other Medicare patients unless your treatment is considered to be an emergency.
Instead, you can choose to go to any hospital (government or otherwise) as a private patient. Then, you have the right to choose the doctors who treat you, and you can often avoid going on a waiting list.
Private patients must pay the hospital and the doctors who treat them and only some of these charges are covered by Medicare. Private hospital cover is designed to help you with the extra costs you incur as a private patient in hospital and after discharge from hospital.
There are different hospital covers available in the market – some designed for people who expect to incur frequent or large private hospital expenses and who want generous benefits, and others designed for people who are rarely in hospital or who are willing to pay some private hospital costs directly themselves.
General (ancillary or extras) cover provides benefits for health services you get from dentists, opticians, chiropractors and physiotherapists. Many of these services are not covered by Medicare, so private health insurance coverage is the only insurance option.
The services of doctors – GPs and specialists – are covered by Medicare. Private health insurance is available for these only to cover “gaps” between the Medicare benefits and doctors’ prices when the doctors’ services are provided in a hospital, but not otherwise.

The variety and levels of covers offered in the market are very broad. You can purchase hospital and general cover in combinations or, for most products, on a stand alone basis too. You can buy hospital cover from one health insurance company and general cover from a different one, if that suits you.

There are websites that allow you to compare various funds and products so you can select the appropriate one for you and your family. Ozecover is a comprehensive one that provides a free service and importantly includes all insurers and every product in the comparison. Click here to compare private health insurance and make sure you are getting the right coverage.