Private Health insurance or Public

[Tren]

We can't decide whether to take out premium health cover insurance or whether if the cost iabout ($70 per week) is really worth it. Can anyone give us some pros and cons please! we have 4 kids and no real existing problems.

[Verdi]

I went public for my first and paid for my obs consultation. You get a goo rebate from medicare especialy if you hit the safety net!. With my second i went private and with this one aswell, honestly have to tell you the best value for money was public!!!
So if you have no issues go public, the level of care is just as good and it will save you tonnes of money!!!!. Private there is alot of expense!!!

[sam's mum]

I guess that it depends on where you are and how sick you are. I know that I wouldn't want to have to rely on a public hospital as my family has had too many problems with them. My uncle was in hospital with respitory problems and kept complaining about pain when swallowing - they gave him a psych referral. Mum told my Aunt to check him out and take him to the private hospital - within two hours he was airlifted to Brisbane and that evening had emergency surgery because of cancer in his throat. He lost his voice box and they were told that if he had waited even one more day he probably would have died.

My dad had a bike accident when I was five (idiots who go through give way signs) and he was in hospital for 9 months, I wouldn't want to have to do that with a public hospital.

There is also the difference between "elective" surgery treatment. I had my arthroscopy on my knee a week after the doctor said I needed it rather than the 2 year wait through the public system. I also got to have a lump taken out of my breast two days after it showed up on the ultrasound - my cousin was public with hers and had to wait six months. I am fine, just need to keep getting checkups. She is on high dose chemo, had a double mastectomy, a dozen lymph nodes removed and they are not sure that they got it all yet.

It is a big price in our budget, but I won't give it up because I just don't rely on the public system to put me first.

[~Emmylou~]

We never had private until DD was born. We were always happy to go to the public hospital for anything that was wrong with us, but that said we never had anything happen that we had to sit on a waiting list for either.

Since having private health I'll never go back :no:

Last month DD got a bad virus that gave her ulcers in her throat and she couldn't eat or drink properly for 10 days. Eventually the inevitable happened, she got dehydrated and needed to go into hospital for a few days on an IV.

With private health cover, we took her to our GP who recommended she be admitted at 3pm. By early evening she had been admitted to the hospital. She had her own private room with her own bathroom attached (with bathtub :) ). There was a crib in her room and a bed as well for one of us to stay with her around the clock. We could just close the door to her room and she got all the sleep she needed to recover, snuggled up in bed with either mum or dad, 24 hrs a day.

In a public hospital we would have waited god knows how long in emergency to be seen, and then admitted.....hours and hours with a sick toddler. She would have been in a room with at least 4 other kids - impossible to sleep. Neither of us would have been able to stay with her - so leaving her there overnight knowing she wouldn't sleep, was sick etc would have been horrible.

The private hospital admission had some out of pocket expenses - a $100 co payment we pay on our insurance, and an $80 gap for the paediatrician who visited her twice a day. She was in hospital for three days and that's all we had to pay.

When you have little ones I think it's worth every cent and there's no way we'll ever ditch it now (were considering it before this happened). It was so much less traumatic for her and for us to be able to have some peace and quiet, privacy and prompt attention.

[Bubble*Crazy]

We've took out private health cover after DD was born, when they brought in the changes for over 30 y/olds (thanks DP!!!). I have always had ancillary cover for optical, dental etc so it wasn't a great deal more in the budget to add the hospital cover. We have a mid-range cover that includes maternity. ATM we pay just under $50 f/night for combination of ancillary & hospital cover on a family cover (this didn't increase when we had DS either).

DD had to have grommets 2.5 years age so we used our private cover to get in quicker - 2 weeks rather than a 6 month waiting period if we went public. The overall cost of the surgery was just over $2000, but as it was just a day procedure and DD didn't need to stay in overnight it cost us nothing (didn't even need to pay the excess).

I have just got all my paperwork through from my Health Fund after having DS and that cost just over $5000, and I only had to contribute our $100 excess. And, the treatment I received during my stay was second to none in a 5 star facility. Obviously though when I had DD as a public patient I didn't pay a cent, and I'm happy to say I had no problem with my treatment there either.

Despite sometimes feeling that it is a waste of money, I don't think I could risk not having it (I also work in the insurance industry - not health though - so I'm a bit biased too!). But as anything, it is a personal choice.

[~Emmylou~]

Just noticed you've been quoted $70 per week....have a look at HCF.
We pay $45 per week for top hospital cover and general extras family cover.
It's definitely worth shopping around! ;)

[Milliner]

I went public and it was great I don't see the point of private, I had an epi and that was free is I was private it would have cost me. I was lucky enough to get a private room too!!

[Beba]

Just noticed you've been quoted $70 per week....have a look at HCF.
We pay $45 per week for top hospital cover and general extras family cover.
It's definitely worth shopping around! ;)
:thumbsup:

[Beba]

Will look into it