Health Insurance

[nm1017]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently looking into getting health insurance for myself as I will soon no longer be under the cover of my family's insurance. I have quite complex and severe mental health conditions that need regular medication not under the PBS, psychiatry, psychology, dietetics, physiotherapy and would need access to private day programs, inpatient treatment and emergency psychiatric treatment.

I'd love to hear from others regarding good/bad experiences with health insurance and any potential advice on what policies I may be able to get that would cover me for these things. I don't need anything specific of course, just some general ideas so I know where to start looking.

Thanks!

[PamelaR]

Hi nm and warm welcome to our community forums

Thank you for your query about health insurance. I'm sure there are many of our members who can give you their experience. As I don't have private insurance - in Queensland many of the services are provided through the public system and while it's not the optimum, they have been beneficial for me.

While you wait for responses from some of our members you can do a couple of things - do a search of our website. Go to search field at the top of the page and enter health insurance or other key words you think of. Feel free to join in discussions relevant to your health insurance query.

Something else you can do is have a look at the Australian government website that provides details about what's available in Australia, i.e. https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dynamic/search

Hope some of this helps nm.

Kind regards

PamelaR

[jess334]

Hi NM.

Sorry it has taken me a while to respond.

Health insurance is tricky. I am lucky enough to be part of a not-for-profit health insurance group that is only for people connected to the department of defence. This is a 'members own' insurance company which helps keep costs low. You can find a list of these companies here: https://membersown.com.au/participating-health-funds.html

However even this insurance, which costs close to $160 a fortnight (for our family of 3) doesnt give us full coverage for mental health.

I mostly have health insurance in case of big ticket items like surgery, cancer etc.

I think most of what you want it for would be under extras. You will want to look closely at each insurances extras policy and check how much you can get back for each item.

Definitely try looking at not for profit insurance companies like Health Partners and HCF. Companies like BUPA (although popular) are almost never cost effective.

good luck!

Jess

[Over1t]

I have a complex mental health background and if it wasn't for my BUPA health insurance, I'm pretty sure I would not be alive today.

I have been admitted to private hospital about 5 times usually for 6 - 8 weeks at a time, when I came out of hospital my Psychiatrist arranged for me to have 2 -3 days a week of psychological treatment (which was an in-patient/day treatment) and on the other days a mental health nurse came to my home to check on me.

I also had phone access to a mental health nurse, which was linked to my Psychiatrist and hospital, so they new my background.

If I hadn't had access to these services, my life would not be what it is now.

Best of luck!