HEALTH

Challenge your misconceptions about health insurance

Thankyou to all those who have registered your support for our campaign for better value Health Insurance. We've now hit our target of 25,000 supporters and with a week to go, who knows where we will end up? And the news continues to show why you want Health Insurance savings.

An international study out this week is enough to make you sick –Australians are paying well over the odds, up to  $400 more a month, for their private health insurance compared to similar nations.

Of course you could emigrate to the UK, NZ or Ireland to take advantage of the lower rates but it’s probably more sensible to ensure you are not being stung anymore than necessary.

One of the reasons the switching rate  between health funds is so low is due to the complexity which breeds misunderstandings about the dreaded waiting periods.

The fear of missing out on much-needed treatment because you may not have served your time is enough to make many lose out on the considerable savings possible by changing  fund.

The good news is there are portability provisions in legislation which mean waiting times are standardised and if  you switch to a similar product should not even apply.

First off there are 34 private health insurers in Australia although the largest five, Medibank, BUPA etc claim almost 70% of the market of some 13 million Australians. So there’s plenty of choice.

If you seek to change provider, either through the FiftyUp Club Great Aussie Health Check campaign or perhaps a call from an intermediary or comparison site such as iSelect, you need to understand waiting periods.

In essence these only apply when you take out a new private health insurance policy or seek to increase the level of cover.

And the government sets a maximum waiting period of 12 months for hospital treatment for pre-existing conditions or two months for psychiatric or palliative care.

The idea is to stop opportunistic consumers taking out a policy, making a big claim for a condition they already had and then leaving the fund after any treatment.

The definition of a pre-existing condition is spelled out at law. It includes any ailment with signs or symptoms that appeared in the six months before to took up a new or upgraded an existing policy.

It doesn’t matter if your GP didn’t know about the condition , hadn’t even seen you or had not made a diagnosis it can still be defined as pre-existing and subject to the waiting period.

And the final decision on what is or isn’t a pre- existing condition rests with the health insurers’ medical practitioner and not your own family GP.

If there are any complaints the (Private Health Insurance Ombudsman PHIO) is charged with sorting them out as an independent third party.

Check out more details at the very handy and independent www.privatehealth.gov.au site.

No one wants to be kept waiting, which is a key reason for taking out health insurance in the first place. In many cases you can switch without having to serve any waiting periods but it really pays to check first.

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