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?