Hi,
Current with Medibank looking to switch health covers and saw I'm eligible for doctors health fund for me and my partner.
Are they any good? Only seem a few reviews for the.
Will do my research looking for top cover hospital and extras.
Quote was $5.3k/year with 2 months extras waived which seemed ok and better to what I'm paying now
I'm a ex-smoker (now vaper) and weekend drinker with all those alcohol deals here so getting that extra health cover is needed
Yeah every doctor I have ever asked uses Medibank's top tier $300 a month cover, that was years ago probably more now. One claimed they get a lot of use out of it, family uses it for everything from massages to surgery.
Is that including the ~25% rebate though? It's unclear from the OP whether their quote includes or excludes the rebate. If it's exclusive of the rebate, then the $5300/year becomes roughly $4000 with rebate, which is closer to the figures you mention.
IIRC too, the top-tier Doctors health policy actually pays a significantly larger amount towards operations than any other policy on the market. You are likely to have significantly lower (or no) gaps on all types of operations, as the policy pays based on the AMA schedule rather than the medicare benefits schedule (not sure if I'm referring to them correctly). So even if the policy is more expensive than other gold policies, it could be worth it to someone who is very gap-averse.
Figure out what level hospital cover you want:
Hospital cover tiers
If you just need a couple of the items from the higher tier, you might be able to find a "Plus" product that has it, e.g. Silver Plus with joint replacements covered or pregnancy covered.
Once you've figured out the hospital cover you need find the cheapest fund for it (taking into account things like excess and co-payments). I think Medibank are normally among the cheapest, at least for the higher tiers and without co-payments.
After you've done that, extras will be more difficult as there isn't really any standardisation. Figure out what extras services you do/will claim and try to maximise the amount you get back and minimise the amount you pay. Make sure you are getting back more than you are paying. Your extras doesn’t need to be with the same fund as your hospital.
I wouldn't worry about the 2 months extras waived, unless you are moving to a higher level of cover or didn't have any extras cover before, as they recognise waiting periods served with a previous fund.
It may also be worth seeing if there is a fund offering 6 weeks free or something for joining with hospital and extras as that may change the maths. You can keep switching between funds to get these offers, just make sure you provide 12+ months of transfer certificates from your previous funds so all of your waiting periods are recognised if you need to go into hospital or something. I wouldn't bother with this unless you plan to keep reviewing your cover and doing the comparisons, otherwise you're better off just finding the cheapest option.
Top level hospital should be available around the place for under $300 pm for a family. HCF Premium Gold has hit $400 but if you have automobile membership you get access to better rates.
Unfortunately the smaller health providers arent always better. Im eligible for Teachers (among others) and they just cant get competitive enough.