Australian Health Insurance

If you choose not to purchase private health insurance, you need to bear in mind that Medicare services are not always as readily accessible as you would like. Reports from the 2010-11 year published on www.australia.gov.au show that 15% of people who had consulted a general practitioner felt that they had waited longer than they felt was acceptable during the previous year; the same applied to 21% of the people who had been referred to a specialist. As for elective surgery, in 2010 – 11 half of the patients for elective surgery waited up to 36 days for their operations: this ranged from 29 to 76 days, and some waited for over a year.

If you’re still working and need your income, then spending a bit on health insurance may be an essential for you. This applies especially if your family depends on you too.

But how do you afford health insurance? It sounds so pricey.

The fact is that, according to Government sources, there are about 35 insurance companies providing private health insurance. They all offer several different packages, usually basic packages of various types, with the option to add on particular extras. You can thus compare various health insurance products and decide which best suits your needs.

If you are a young single person you do not need maternity benefits, nor is it likely that you need cover for major surgery or joint replacements. Thus you can rather examine the different packages offering basic health care, and choose one of them. It is different for the elderly or the disabled: they may not have as much choice when comparing health insurance packages, as many of them are likely to be fairly similar in the benefits they offer and the costs. But even so, there are differences and it is well worth studying these in order to find an option that is both affordable and provides the cover that is appropriate.

Many Australians have significant health challenges, which will cause them to need special health care in order to prevent the complications of those challenges. Diabetes and high blood pressure are among them. Cardiovascular disease is on the increase. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) tells us that cancer and cardiovascular diseases form the greatest burden of disease in our country. If you develop one of the diseases in these groups, you want the best and fastest possible care.

Many Australians also engage in health practices that provide challenges to their health. The AIHW has found that many people drink too much alcohol, smoke, and eat the wrong foods: we eat too little in the way of fruit and vegetables. Ideally, people should change their choices in daily living, but we all know how difficult this is: so the next best thing is to take out health insurance.

And the many people who live with disabilities also need to look carefully at how best to manage these so that they can enjoy the best possible health: this includes choosing a health insurance option that ensures that they have good access to the health care they need. Such people need to pay special attention when they compare the health care insurance packages offered and select the one that best suits both their profiles and their pockets.

If Medicare-provided health care was accessible at the time it was needed, and if it provided full coverage for the care provided, then people would not need to invest in additional private health care. But, along with all the health care provided by the states across the world, Medicare payments have gaps. And people need to assess whether they can afford to rely only on Medicare services, or whether they have to make space in their budgets for additional health insurance.

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