Health Insurance 5
Step-by-step guide to health insurance
Step 1: Do you need private insurance?
Every Australian is entitled to free treatment in a public hospital. Private
health insurance can have the following advantages: more freedom to choose your
doctor, shorter waiting times for elective surgery and access to private
hospitals.
Step 2: How to save
Use their strategies to save money when taking out hospital insurance.
Step 3: Compare products
A key factor in choosing hospital insurance is which private hospitals a
particular fund lets you use. It's also important to check restrictions that
apply to the hospital cover you're considering. Some funds restrict the overall
cover for extras by combining the maximum limits. For example a fund may offer
$400 worth of physiotherapy and chiropractic in a year instead of $400 for each.
This restriction can mean very large differences in how much you’ll get back.
Step 4: Read the fine print
Before signing up with any fund, read its brochure and key features guide
thoroughly. If there’s anything about your entitlements that you don’t
completely understand, write to the insurer and get written answers to your
questions before you join. their fine print checklist includes questions to ask
when you take out insurance, when you’re reviewing it and before you go into
hospital.
Step 5: How to switch
Health funds often claim it’s easy to switch. But switching can become stressful
if things go wrong.
Health insurance
Private hospital insurance means you can be more certain of having your choice
of doctor. If you’re admitted as a public patient, the hospital assigns a doctor
to you.
The other key attraction is that private patients usually have shorter waiting
times for elective surgery. 'Elective surgery' is treatment for a condition that
isn’t immediately life-threatening. But that doesn’t mean that the surgery is
unnecessary or the condition is not painful. For example, if you need a back
operation or kidney stones removed, the shorter the wait, the better.
Not all hospital costs are covered under hospital insurance. These are some of
the things you may not get:
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