Private health funds

[pegasus]

I'm trying to find a private health fund for a single parent. There are so many out there and I'm wondering, do I really need to pay $120 upwards a month? Surely it doesn't cost that much. Its almost as much as 2 parent families. Perhaps there's an ordinary family one cheaper than single parent.

ETA: I can't believe it! I just searched for 2 parent family with the same parameters as I searched for single parent and it came up cheaper! That's ridiculous! ETA2: Scratch that, it was the same cost. Why would I pay for another person when I'm a single parent?

What health fund are you with and what is your monthly premium?

[catherinemoses]

I don't know how helpful this will be...but ...
I don't currently have any private heath. I was sick and tired of paying ever increasing premiums and not ever using it. Anyway...
Try iselect.com.au (I'm pretty sure that's what it is) It is advertised on the radio all the time. It is for health insurance premiums. Apparently you can compare select and save or something like that Also you could try Choice, they give unbiased opinions and will tell you the best/ most value.
HTH

[briggsy's girl]

i think you'll find the reason it's coming up as the same cost as you have dependants - a lot, if not most - would have their premiums based on a family rate whether it's a one parent or two parent family. with the "extra's" they have a per person and per family combined limit on some things, but i think with hospital, you'll be on a family rate no matter what, due to the "family status" - as was mentioned, scope out iselect and see what it comes up with - if not, maybe look at a few individuals - you might have to google to find them though...

[pegasus]

I did look there and the min was $125 a month and they only search a limited number of funds. I was searching the federal government's private health search engine and the more lax the parameters the more fund covers I find. I found at least 75 different policies and I did not want to search them all. Perhaps if we did a sort of poll on BB to find out what sort of funds families are on, it could help me in the right direction.

Currently I'm with NIB Basic Saver, that's $19.90 a fortnight, and my DD is not covered by anything. I really want her covered.

[SJmumof2]

Getting private health insurance was the best thing i ever did. It gives you peace of mind that if something terrible was to happen you would have the best doctors looking after your family, not trainee doctors.
When we found out zak needed tubes in his ears and his tonsils out he was booked in for the surgery the following week. If we didnt have private he would have gone on a 8 months public waiting list. which would have meant that he would have been sick for those 8 months waiting.
We are with mutual community. It is expensive but the health and care of your family is the most important thing

[Kitt3n]

hi there,

I was like you - before DF and I were "committed" i just couldnt afford the premiums as a single parent - from what i found, it didnt matter if you were 1 parent and 1 child, or 2 parents with 2 children, the premums were pretty much the same!

But now that we have it no matter what i have to do i will do my best to keep it - we have certainly gotten more out of it than i would have expected!

We are with NIB.

[mrsmac]

I was with medibank private which was $110 per fortnight but we had full extras etc as well. We have since moved to a teachers one which is the same cost but no extra to apy if we go into hospital. I looked up iselect once but they only do a few funds which annoyed me. You really need to work out what you want to cover- do you need extras like dental and optical etc?

[Trillian]

I have no idea how much ours costs us because Dh gets it paid for by his employer as a fringe benefit, and its a corporate fund so its cheaper than if we did it ourselves. What I can recommend though is find a fund that will let you pick and choose the type of things you want to be covered for (I think most of them do that these days anyway) becuase obviously there are things that you wont need. Also try calling them direct - you might be able to wrangle a cheaper premium that way instead of going by what you see online.

[Olive]

we have just basic hospital cover and it costs us $65 a month for the family

[pegasus]

I've just signed up with HBA. Its going to cost me about $140 a month, and I also get 1 month free. It was about the same for HCF, but I kinda like the choice of extras better with HBA.

I wanted dental and optical. I get to choose four extras, so I chose general dental, major dental, optical and natural therapies (which include naturopathy-sp?, remedial massage, acupuncture etc). Its going to be great to get a massage again. And I really need dental and optical. DD is likely to need glasses as both her parents do.

Thanks for helping me out!

[BeautifulMadness]

My hubby is 31 and he got a thing in the mail abt something going up and he had no idea what i was on...i want private health espeically for ash

[pegasus]

Heaps of funds are offering niceties to get you to join before the end of June. HBA give you second month free, MBF are giving you the choice of a gift (iTunes downloads, sunglasses or PUMA pack). Not so sure about other funds. They want people to join before the new financial year, because of something to do with the medicare limits. Not sure when they're increasing the medicare threshold (from the new Budget).

Hunt around heaps, compare funds within companies and funds between companies. With the new financial year starting soon, its good to have a look at what you're covered for. Do you want obstetrics or not? Do you want cover for knee and hip replacement? Good to review what you're on and whether you want to change it.

[Trillian]

Another thing I thought of, ask if you can exclude anything that you would be covered for under your health care card (if you have on of course) I know ambulance is covered with a HCC

[*EJ*]

We are with Australian Unity and pay $118 per month for hospital cover only (extras aswell was just too much). I struggle to justify having the cover but i know the second i get rid of if we'll have the need for it. It's like life insurance and income proctection i suppose...