Health insurance - to have or not to have???

[AnyDream]

ETA - forgot to mention that being without PHI meant I had to wait about 4 months of excruciating gallstone attacks before i could get the sucker seen to. Not nice.

Extras - have always kept top extras - you only need a pair of glasses and a little bit of dental each year and it pays for itself.

[Olive]

we have basic hopital ($74 a month for the family) and we've used it once for DD's grommets, once already for me this year and will again next month when i have surgery, without id still be waiting! its worth it, maybe find a cheaper fund

[Trillian]

We were always of the view that we didn't need it - we were healthy people who don't use doctors a lot and we were in the financial position that if we needed anything, then we had the money to just pay to go private anyway. But then we had kids. Kids who need glasses (and now I need them too!), kids who need a truckload of dental work (2 kids with crap teeth), kids who play football and need mouthguards, kids who need chiropractic (and DH and I need it too), a DH with worn out knees that needed fixing, me with endo problems that needed fixing and the PHI has been a GODSEND! We only got it because DH's work pays for it as a fringe benefit but even once he leaves there we will continue to keep the PHI because you can't afford to be without it these days. the health system is that crappy that even if you are a priority 1 public patient where you need immediate treatment, you are still better off with PHI because it gives you more choices in how you want your treatment handled and not just hoping the hospital lottery pays off.

So it's not always a financial benefit that you will get from it, but it is more of the type of treatment you get and the time it takes you to get it. Some people still have a lot of faith in the public system and in some cases there is little or no difference between public and private - or in the case of maternity services public is far better - but I want the choice, I want to know that I'm able to acess health services quickly if I need it. When I had my endo problems, I saw my GP, saw the gyno 2wks later and had the op 4 weeks after that - 6 weeks was all it took! When I was a lot younger and had the same op done, it took nearly 9 months from seeing the GP for a referral to having it done publically. Even with DH's knees, if he went public, he would be looking at a 2+ year wait, but it only took him 8 weeks with PHI.

I know it is hard to visualise the benefits when all you see is the premium being paid out each month, but it is like that with any insurance - seems pointless to have it when you never make a claim, but if you have to use it for something really substancial, then it immediately pays for itself.

[Jellyfish]

So far it has been worth it for us (family hospital and extras) having both my babies privately and now that my DD has speech issues. I also have glasses for driving (watching movies and such too) and dental is the big one, I had to have a wisdom tooth out after DD and I can't imagine having to wait in pain, letting the situation get worse (it had just come through and was pushing my other teeth) because of not being able to afford getting something done.

I think Trillian said it well.. it is more than the financial thing, it is about the security of getting something done with choices and speed.

[LizLemon]

I agree with what the others said - sometimes it's worth having in the event something goes wrong. At the very least hospital.

Re the tax time financial advantage - PHI will only help avoid the medicare levy surcharge (and if you earn under a certain amount you wouldn't have to pay this anyway), it does not reduce your medicare levy, which is a flat rate of earnings. It's shoddy advertising really, they make it seem like it will save everyone by having PHI but it will only save those earning over a certain amount.

[*EJ*]

Re the tax time financial advantage - PHI will only help avoid the medicare levy surcharge (and if you earn under a certain amount you wouldn't have to pay this anyway), it does not reduce your medicare levy, which is a flat rate of earnings. It's shoddy advertising really, they make it seem like it will save everyone by having PHI but it will only save those earning over a certain amount.

Absolutely is shoddy advertising!!!! But at the same time a good argument for me with my DH and pursuading him to keep it going

[Olive]

there is a government website like iselect, that's where i found my fund, i only have basic cover

[Cranky Kitten]

If anything with kids I'd keep the extras and maybe reduce or change the hospital cover. And yes, some funds will do an extras-only policy. DD is staring down the barrel of braces/orthodontic work once her adult teeth finish coming through if they don't straighten up on their own, DH and I both wear glasses and I see a chiro every 2 weeks. Plus I only paid about $50 out of pocket for my last extraction (ouch) rather than the $200 it should've been.

We're with HBF which is a WA based insurer and have both health and car insurance with them through salary sacrifice with DH's work - definitely a better deal than paying directly, maybe check with your DH's employer to see if this is an option for you?

[~Kaz~]

Just want to second what MD said about the unexpected. I was also raised with PHI and parents who continued it for me while I studied until I was 21. I have kept it up ever since because you just never know what is around the corner and there is nothing more important than your health or that of your family. I did need it at 21 when I fell through a roof (don't ask!) and broke my wrist.

I would actually go without in other areas to maintain basic cover after witnessing DP go through his treatment (mainly in the public system) over the past 12 months.

DP was like your DH, never had it, never needed it. Even after we were living together and then had DS he still didn't get it straight away which cost ME at tax time two years running He finally took it out in early 2010 and then got sick with Lymphoma. It covered him getting his teeth cleaned (important during his second round of chemo/stem cell transplant to have a really clean, disease free mouth), it covered a lot of our travel and some occasional accommodation as we are in the country, it covered his out of pocket medication expenses and he was able to claim on most of his scans (which were many and each cost hundreds). He was treated mainly in the public system as he needed the specialist care in a large city hossy and they didn't diferentiate between public or private but when the cancer came back unexpectedly in his brain, he was able to book into the private system to have surgery to remove it the following week. If he'd stayed on the public waiting list it could have been a lot longer as although it was scary, it wasn't life threatening in an immediate sense. It was so lovely to just book in and get it taken out straight away. Money can't buy that kind of relief.

Having said all of that, I truly hope that if you take out PHI, you never actually need it in the way that we or MD did (don't wish that on anyone) and that years from now your DH can hassle you for all that "wasted" money because of how healthy you all are!