How my Mum Saved a Small Fortune on her Hospital Admission
Thank goodness winter is nearly gone as Australia deals with the worst flu outbreak on record. More than 70,000 cases of flu have been reported so far this year. 
I had a week off work back in July but unfortunately I passed it onto my elderly mother who is 82. I knew there was something wrong when she fell asleep in front of the TV one night and hadn’t moved by 6am the next morning. Mum was admitted to hospital where she stayed for the following 5 days.
Mum has had private health insurance for more than 50 years and has only recently changed funds at my insistence, as I knew we shouldn’t be paying the premium we were paying – around $200 a month.
We managed to get her down to $110 a month by opting out of cover for a couple of things such as cataracts.
But back to hospital. When I admitted mum they asked if she had private health cover and I said yes but I want her admitted as a public patient to avoid out-of-pocket expenses. What they said next dumbfounded me.
I was asked if I could admit her as a private patient, not only would the hospital cover ALL her out-of-pockets, they would waive the $500 excess plus throw in free TV and phone during her stay! I was waiting for the free set of steak knives as well!
The lady explained that by claiming on my health fund it helps the hospital financially. Well it certainly helped me too!
I asked around my friends if they had heard of this and the same thing had happened to one friend who was admitted to the same hospital earlier this year for emergency surgery. Another family member was offered free car parking as well as no gap payments.
According to News Corp papers back in April, public hospitals are tricking people into using their private cover by saying it is a “donation” that will cost nothing — only for bills of up to $1000 to arrive months later.
Health funds say the practice is adding 11 per cent a year to premiums and generating $1.5 billion a year for public hospitals from health funds, according to analysis by independent health analyst Martyn Goddard.
“Nearly every state public hospital now would have a private revenue team which encourages people to declare to use their private health insurance,” said HCF chief benefits officer Cindy Shay.
“There is a lot of pressure put on consumers. The sell is this will cost you nothing — you should consider it to be a donation to towards buying hospital equipment,” Ms Shay said.
News Corp Australia has identified examples of patients being offered inducements including free toiletries, nappy-washing services, TV, car-parking and newspapers.
Fund lobby group Private Healthcare Australia said people were being “harassed” and “given “misleading information” such as that they would be treated faster if they used their insurance.
HCF’s Ms Shay said emergency department patients who should have been treated and sent home within four hours had instead been admitted then coerced into invoking their cover.
The moral of the story? The Power is in Your Hands
- If you do have to go to hospital, ask the admission team if they can help cover some of your out-of-pockets if you claim through your fund.
- If you know you have to go to hospital, check with your fund about possible affiliations with local hospitals so you can avoid unnecessary gap payments
- Health funds also have specialists on their books who won’t charge above the scheduled fee.
- Ask your specialist if he is prepared to do the procedure for the scheduled fee, many will do this if asked
- If you have to have tests like x-rays or MRI’s, ask your GP to tick the bulk bill box on the referral.
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