I am looking at PHI to cover my plastic surgery expenses plus extras such as optical and ental. I am wanting a short-term waiting period. Don't need any pregnancy related expenes or hip replacement surgery options etc..
Where did you look to find a tailor made private health insurance policies??
I was going to say iSelect as well, but as Kim says they only show the policies they get commissions for. You're better off also ringing around or most of them have their policies and quotes online.
there is another website similar to iselect but its a government one, i'll try and find it...
ive found it but i cant post the link as its commercial , google privatehealth
Last edited by Olive; July 13th, 2009 at 10:01 AM.
I agree with the above. Call all the agencies individually. Going through somewhere such as iSelect you only get those that pay the commissions - some of the major (and better) insurance agencies do not pay for sites such as this.
I'm not sure of your surgery needs but be aware that plastic surgery/cosmetic surgery is only paid for if it is for a viable medical reason not purely asthetics.
A lot of them also have quote tools on their websites, but don't give you as in depth knowledge as the employees do.
Yeah what Cheeky Monkey said. I do not think you will find any PHI company that will pay out for cosmetic/aesthetic plastic surgery in this country. Also if it is a pre exisiting medical condition regardless of what it is the minimum wait by law with any health fund will be twelve months. sometimes you can find funds that are doing special deals and advertising that they will waive the standard waiting period which is two months on any claims but pre exisiting conditions will always have a twelve month waiting period before you can claim. This is to stop people rorting the system, joining, making a huge a claim and then buggering off again......
The only way to avoid waiting periods is if you have already served your waiting period with another fund and are simply tranferring funds. If you have never had private health before you have to serve the waiting period....
I know that PHI doesn't cover plastic surgery but my plastic surgeon mentioned that when i get a tummy tuck with PHI it is like $5k out of pocket as medicare pays for some it. If i didn't have PHI it is like $10k.
I'm thinking if they waive the no-wait period i can also get my boobies done for cheaper too.
I also agree with ringing around the actual companies... you'll also get a feel as to their customer service. We are with three insurance agenices (one for health, one for income and other financially related services, the other for contents etc) and the health phone service is much better than the other two, consistently. Actually we are also with another for our car... they aren't too bad. I value being able to speak to real people and excellent phone service and would be prepared to pay a little more for this... but if you are looking for the cheapest fund sometimes they do cut costs by reducing customer service.. eg by offselling the phone help line to Indian companies etc. It's a bit of a personal gripe with me... I like to actually be able to understand the person on the other end of the line... without an accent barrier. I know that my PHI service has consistently high quality call centre staff... who operate within Australia. I know this isn't answering your actual question but if you have to decide between two companies I'd go for the one with better service if the premiums are not that different.
I spoke to my plastic surgeon's receptionist just before and she said that a tummy tuck is seen as a necessary medical procedure once you have a c/s and hence that is why the fee is reduced to $5k and the PHI covers the rest.
Called to DH and he said to find out the premiums. He gave me the go ahead. Now i need to find a PHI co. with reduced waiting periods. The receptionist gave me the item number for the procedure and to check it out the PHI before signing up.
We've been with NIB for over 10 years. The two banks that my DH has worked for both offer corporate-rate PHI through NIB. Never had any problems with them. Their over-the-phone service is 10/10. Not the cheapest but we won't be changing. NIB has a new dental/optical centre on Collins Street (Melbourne CBD) where if you are a member you can go with no out-of-pocket expense.
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and hence that is why the fee is reduced to $5k and the PHI covers the rest.
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