Medical Insurance - Hospital + Extras when Tier 3

grang on 19/02/2016 - 17:18

Medical insurance extras used to make sense because of the government rebate - you effectively got the rebate to pay for a portion of non-hospital things like visiting the Chyro or dentist.

Because of some timing of cash flow, we will be in a situation where we are tier 3 (i.e. as a family, we will get 0% benefit)

Logic tells me that the Extra's pay only a portion anyway, and that the extra $100 - $150 per month for a family is better saved directly and used to pay the "full" invoice at the dentist or Chyro. I.e. Don't take extras

Is this logic correct? or for thigns like dental it still makes sens to have extras?

(our situation has also changed and no longer need maternity cover - 3 kids is enough! - so I am reviewing anyway.

Cheers - wrestling with this - surely made it so bloody complex no one can really understand what they need!
We are on a young families BUPA plan at the moment that is grand-fathered.

Health & Beauty

Comments

  • tassieeagle on 19/02/2016 - 17:37

    Interested in replies as I am in a similar situation myself

  • eatwell365 on 19/02/2016 - 21:03
    +2

    In short, loaded atm and want to revisit your insurance.

    1. downgrade to basic hospital minus cataract, maternity and cardiac (to avoid Medicare surcharge), saved quite a bit. the chance of above is less likely when young. likely emergency will be in public anyway. for optional surgery, go private will always be better imo, so can upgrade the cover later in life to get cardiac/cataract cover when approaching 50s.

    2. you have 3 kids - you are way ahead on rebates compared to small family.. 5 x dental p&m @$150 each = $750 alone. All depend on how you use them and the gap of your service provider. Ask if you use optical, speechie, remedial message… and do the sum.

    Personally I'd rather save on the hospital and have extra cover. As I know, if I pay for yearly warranty on my car, I will have it check more regularly than I pay every time out of pocket. It is just me.

    Best is to visit the branch, I do that once a year to make sure I always get the best deal on covers - as new plan always come out.

  • grang on 20/02/2016 - 00:32

    Thanks Eatwell365.

    In terms of point 2. I was under the impression that every dependent you add (1 or 2 or 3 kids) changes the premium anyway - I.e. no free lunch on 1 vs 3 kids?

    • eatwell365 on 20/02/2016 - 06:39

      It was in the past and just did a check in comparethemarket.com.au
      Couple=2 adults (premium = 2 x adults)
      Family = 2 x adults + any kids (premium only slight more (roughly 20%) than couple whether you have one or 8 kids
      Fund may start looking into family threshold for each claimable extra item.
      But at the moment, if you can have 10kids, you are claimable 10x the benefits than 1 kid with the same premium, provided they need the service.

  • Melburnian on 20/02/2016 - 00:55
    +1

    The average customer doesn't benefit from extras cover because they pay more than they get in benefits. Do the maths on your particular cover and what you'll use it for, and only take out extras cover if you will definitely make a 'profit' so to speak. Most people are better off without extras. I just have hospital cover, and pay full price for my optical and dental.

    • grang on 20/02/2016 - 01:20

      Yes, without the rebate benefit, I can't seem to make the math work.
      That said, for many of the hospital plans, you seem to need some form of extras to get [better?] ambulance cover…

      • eatwell365 on 20/02/2016 - 06:50
        +1

        help yourself go to iselect.com,au or comparethemarket.com.au and find out more.

        Re ambulance (without ambulance emergency cover), you are correct. MBP is with hospital cover, BUPA is with extra (but think you can only get extra if you have hospital, tricky- I could be wrong.)

      • eatwell365 on 20/02/2016 - 06:55
        +1

        Re math doesn't work, check how much your extra is. tick all the items your family may use x fee for each item you will claim.
        Extra is called "extra" so understandably not for everyone's situation.

  • minniethemoocher on 20/02/2016 - 21:22
    +1

    Most health finds I checked charged the same for family or couple and didn't increase with the number of children. Downgrade your hospital as you don't need maternity and pick a extras plan with good dental. With 5 family members it may pay for itself.

  • grang on 25/02/2016 - 16:06

    Thanks

    I did some tick for tack testing, and it turns out my grandfathered plan with BUPA is cheaper than the new ones… the limited extras I get just about washes its face with kids and zero rebate. (so worth keeping)

    Iselect I found very unhelpful actually - Other than the "real comparability" they add so much margin to the products (double digit percentage I believe) for sales referrals, many of the smaller funds (Like HIF) don't use them.

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