health insurance

[pelaja]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this should be posted in this section or not but here goes.

We are about to have our first baby and don't have any health insurance. Given we're on one income I'm not sure we can afford it but have been looking into it just the same.

I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinions about whether they think hospital cover atleast is a must or extras or both or just general comments altogether.

thanks!

[Tigergirl1980]

We didn't have any health insurance at all and I was very, very happy with the care I received. I didn't and don't feel the need to have health insurance to have a baby although if you want it for other things too then it's probably good. My understanding is though that you need to have it for either 6 or 12 months before you're covered for maternity?

[nikbrad]

With most companies I think you need to have cover for 12 months PRIOR to conceiving! Like we know how long it's going to take! We had it as a couple but didn't they advised us not to worry about changing to a family plan until after I was 6 months pg so if anything happened (eg Miss M arrived early) then she would be covered too.

[pelaja]

sorry what I meant was having it after the baby is born. I know most providers have a waiting period of around 12 months.

[Mumma2three]

I had no health insurance for either births and was very happy both times xo

[Tobily]

This is JMO but I think it is worth every cent and more when you have kids.
I had DD public because we were still serving our waiting period which was fine, but the health insurance really came into its own after she was born so I'd recommend you get it if you can.
When she was 18 months old she came down with a really horrid virus and after about 8 days of trying to treat her at home she got very dehydrated and it was decided to put her in hospital. She was seen and admitted in a matter of an hour or so which was the first nice surprise.
She had her own room with private bathroom, telephone etc and a bed and a cot in the room. One of us could stay with her at all times, and overnight. Because she wasn't sharing a room getting her to sleep was no problem, and we could also order meals at the hospital so we didn't have to leave her to eat. She was visited twice a day by her own ped. Let me tell you when you're trying to keep an 18 month old attached to a drip under control for three days this was all a godsend. It would have been so much more stressful in a public hospital without the facilities or services we had access to privately and not being able to stay with her - I can't imagine having to leave her overnight in the care of overworked nurses at the age she was then
Before this DH and I were considering getting rid of it because we weren't using it enough but after that experience we're keeping it forever LOL.

I think public is fine for adults but when it comes to your kids the thought of having to wait for treatment that other people determine not to be "urgent enough" is really tough. When you kid is sick you want them better...now.
Again JMO.

[~Kim~]

Think of the dental cover, orthodontics, priority treatment if they break a bone (as kids are prone to do), knock teeth out etc.
I've worked in a hospital a long time and I wouldn't be without mine.

[mummy2Kaitlyn]

I went private for my first and I must say I did enjoy seeing the same OB each appt. However in saying that I think I will be going public for our second!.

I think as long as you are comfortable perhaps not seeing the same OB each time then public is just as good.

Cass

[apple]

I agree with Cass - I am glad I went private first time around, it was nice to have a private room and not be kicked out after a couple of days. But I too plan to go public second time around, it's just too expensive for us, and I think I like the midwife care better than the OB, espeically considering I had a straightforward pregnancy and labour (well reasonably!)

[angelfish]

We rely on Medicare and have been pretty happy with the treatment so far. I don't know about having babies in hospital as we had ours at home, but I was in for a couple of days for urgent treatment. I didn't have to wait at all, I was admitted the day my GP referred me. They let me bring my breastfeeding baby in with me and looked after us both really well. I had a private room as well. Ds had an operation when he was 2. We had to wait for half a day because they do children in age order and there was a baby who had complications. I think that's fair enough, and since we only have one paediatric surgeon here it would have made no difference if we'd been private asnyway. Ds was in a shared room, but dh was able to stay in with him overnight. Dh has been in hospital twice, first was emergency so he'd still have been in public hospital emergency room if we'd have had private cover. Second time (yesterday and today) he was put in a private room on the ward and again no complaints. I think it's a bit different here in Tassie because we have few hospitals and few specialists. They give you whatever bed is available, so you can have a private room as a public patient, and you can also have a shared room as a private patient. And generally it's the same doctors just working in different hospitals. Also as I think I've mentioned elsewhere, ambulance is free to everybody in Tasmania. We would buy ambulance cover if we lived on the mainland.

[Missy]

Hi there

Ive been covered all my life and then covered my daughter as her father and i broke up but now married and have a baby boy so im in a family cover. My daughter has glasses and dental ....and ive also been in hospital for ops and hubby has sleep disorder so that was $600 but hcf covered the lot. So i would never think of not having it and also ive had cervical cancer and want to make sure i can get into hospital without waiting and also having my own doc.

Its up the the person themself but I would say yes for your kids sake.

I also have accd cover for my kids that is they had an accdnt then there cover for $10,000 each.

Hope this helps

Missy

[~Kim~]

Besides I thought of something else...if you're over 30 and earn over a certain amount you pay an extra medicare levy anyways...I'd rather pay into the private health scheme than into govt coffers....

[abs]

Besides I thought of something else...if you're over 30 and earn over a certain amount you pay an extra medicare levy anyways...I'd rather pay into the private health scheme than into govt coffers....

dont have to be over 30...

if you earn over a certain amount and dont have PHI, mr tax man will charge you an additional medicare premium (1%?). Tis not long when that additional premium overtakes PHI cover, so works out in your favour to have the cover

The over 30 bit is if you join at say 40, you pay (40-30)x2% extra loading on your PHI cover

[dee73]

I had singles cover which didn't cover preg so went public for birth, then took out family when ds was 6 months old. There are some times when it's def worth having it. For example if your baby is prone to ear infextions, if you have private cover you can get grommits staright away, but if you're public I know some people that have had to wait 12 months!

At the very least get ambulance cover - we had to make a rush trip into hospital when ds had gastro at 5 months. If we'd had to call an ambulance it would have cost a fortune.