What health cover should I get for my braces?

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  letmecry on 17/05/2011 - 22:59

  Umm… I'm originally from Thailand and it's impossible to go back to adjust them every month. It costs around $3000 in Thailand.

  I've no idea about health cover here. I just got a Medicare; couldn't do anything with this.

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  Cluster on 17/05/2011 - 23:28

  I work at an orthodontic practice (no, I'm not the doctor :-). Most patients seem to have either Mutual Community or Medibank Private cover. Depending on the plan, both have caps on what they'll pay and waiting periods apply (ie. can't buy the cover today and have the banding next week). It's difficult to say what you'll save by having cover as costs and plans vary. Talk to an orthodontist.

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  joannatan on 18/05/2011 - 00:14

  nothing will cover 100% of your cost, most of them get cap up to $5k only. the rest you have cope with this cost. because this is major, you have to serve 12 months waiting period. why don't u call iselect

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  Cluster on 18/05/2011 - 00:19

  Forgot to mention that if you spend $1500 or more per financial year on medical services (most services are eligible, including orthodontics) you get a 20% tax offset for every dollar spent over that amount. It may help a little bit.

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    sparkles on 18/05/2011 - 01:55

    I had no idea of this. Here is the ATO page on this:
    http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content/00218527.htm

    So on a basic level, it means if you spend 10K in one year on orthodontics/dental work you get back $1700 on your tax.

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  Brooklyn99 on 18/05/2011 - 08:56

  If you do not have private health insurance now, you will have a waiting period of 1 year I believe for major dental work. Most health insurance remove the minor dental 3 mth waiting period but that's only for regular check ups and minor fillings.

  Braces will most probably fall under major dental which I believe all Health Insurance have a 1 year waiting period. And even after 1 year they will not be covering 100% of the dental work. Might be best to contact the individual health insurance to find out.

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    ShortyX on 18/05/2011 - 10:49

    Plus most funds only rebate $800 - $1000 for major dental work over the life of the policy, but usually only one set of major dental work is needed during your life.

    Once that rebate comes back, you're still out of pocket by a fair bit. Use the tax offset for medical services over $1500 to get a bit more back but apart from that, there's nothing else you can do.